


The Slave and the Darkness

by NetRaptor



Series: NetRaptor's AU Sonicverse [21]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 19:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10703313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NetRaptor/pseuds/NetRaptor
Summary: When Metal Sonic engineers a new robot called Mekion, he gives him the mission to sneak up on and photograph Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. But this simple mission is not so simple as his former allies recognize him in his changed state, and the robot he is and the mortal he used to be go to war.





	1. Resurrection

"You are a creature of darkness. You hate and fear the light. You dwell in deepest shadow. You will hunt at my bidding, kill at my bidding, and act at my bidding. You are mine, body and soul."

The darkness enfolded him like a cocoon; safe, warm and comfortable. The voice was all around him, penetrating his brain like the slow, inorexible trickle of lava.

"Since the failure of the Mecha-bot line, I have developed the technology of Mecha-Fusion. You are the first of these units, and you obey only me."

He was incapable of disobeying that voice. It was his master, his leash, his guide. Still the voice went on, chanting the words.

"You do not question me, fight me, or rebel against me. I am your master. You will live in darkness and move at night. I am your master. Even if my orders seem strange, you will obey me. I am your master. These are the laws that you will live by." The voice paused, and he waited.

"First. Do not harm me or through inaction allow harm to befall me. Second. You obey my every command, except where they interfere with the First Law. Third. You may defend yourself as long as doing so does not interfere with the first two laws."

The voice fell silent and he lay in his cocoon as the words embedded themselves in his subconscious, for he could not stop them.

A change came. His pulse quickened and his breath came faster, for he was permitted to awaken now that his programming was complete. He opened his eyes and looked up through green water at the wavering, rippling image of his Master. His Master reached into the water, lifted him out of the tank, and carried him to a table where he laid him down.

"Mekion is completed, eh?" said a new voice. "He doesn't look like much. Leviathan was better."

"Leviathan had free will," said the Master's voice. "Mekion cannot disobey me. It is his prime directive."

"Then he doesn't have free will," said the scornful voice. "How do you expect a slave to carry out an objective?"

"He possesses free will," snapped the Master. "But he has been programmed to remain loyal to me."

"You make me sick, Mecha," said the scornful voice. Then Mekion's body was blasted by drying fans, drowning out further conversation.

As he dried, Mekion became aware of a creeping chill along the right side of his body. He opened his eyes and shut them again-above him was a light. He was a creature of darkness, and bright light hurt him. He lifted a hand and shielded his face. He opened one eye the barest fraction and looked at his hand silhouetted against the light. It was finely-fingered, made of metal, and tipped with steel claws. He lifted his other hand-it was stiff with cold-and gazed at it. It was flesh and blood and covered by damp fur.

Mekion sat up and hugged himself. He was shivering in the fans, and along his right side was a deep chill. His left side had no sensation at all, and when he squinted at himself in the bright light he saw why-half his body was sleek black metal. The other half was flesh, and where the two joined along his torso was a strip of plastic-like material, neither flesh nor metal. The fur was shaved along it.

This did not upset him. He felt no emotion at all-he was simply cold.

The fans shut off, and in the sudden silence he heard the scornful voice say, "You idiot, do you want to give him hypothermia?"

Mekion squinted toward the voice and saw his Master approach him with a blanket. He wrapped this around Mekion and turned a dial on the hem. The blanket filled with heat.

"Aww, how sweet, Metal Sonic's babying the prototype," sneered the other robot, its green eyes glowing.

Metal Sonic turned off the overhead light, and in the resulting dimness Mekion was able to see like a cat. He saw his Master-Metal Sonic-was a short blue robot, fashioned after a Mobian hedgehog. He moved with an easy, oiled grace that bespoke of power and speed. The other robot was red with long triangular 'dreadlocks' that swung when he moved. His body was heavier and he moved with the slow stolidness of a wrestler. Mekion identified them as Mecha-bots two and four: Metal Sonic and Robo Knuckles.

Metal Sonic turned to his associate. "This creature is more sensitive to environmental changes than you or I. Alleviating its distress will make it all the more loyal to me."

"Yeah, loyalty's a fine trait for someone else," said Robo Knux. "Just not you."

"Going rogue was foreseen long ago," said Metal Sonic, turning his back on the other robot and focusing glowing eyes on Mekion. "Since the ARK incident, Dr. Robotnik has proved that he can concoct foolish schemes without my aid."

"Yes," said Robo Knux. "Now you're free to dream up foolish schemes on your own."

Metal Sonic slashed at Robo Knux, who parried the blow with upflung arms. Robo Knux's arms were scored with scratches from many other such attacks. Upon looking closer, Mekion saw that Metal Sonic's arms were also marred with claw scratches. These two were at it all the time, it seemed.

Metal Sonic turned to Mekion. "If he were to attack me, what would you do?"

"Nothing," said Mekion in a raspy whisper, which was all that remained of his voice. "You would not be harmed, for you are capable of defending yourself."

Metal Sonic was still for a moment, red eyes glowing. Mekion found the light too bright and gazed instead at the intake in his Master's torso.

"His logic is flawless," said Metal Sonic, turning to Robo Knux. "Preserving his brain was my finest achievement to date."

"Sure," said Robo Knux. "You've managed to make a mortal into a fiend like us. I predict he'll fail-you cannot deprogram his emotions."

"He has no emotions."

"Is that so?" said the crimson robot, striding up to Mekion. He examined the cyborg for a moment, then lashed out with one pair of eight-inch claws. Mekion blocked the blow with his robot hand, a few sparks flying from the clash. With his other hand, Robo Knux sliced at Mekion's flesh side. Mekion twisted aside and slid off the table. He stood behind it, rubbing his side where Robo Knux's claws had scored him.

"How do you feel now?" said Robo Knux.

Mekion checked himself for blood, an instinctive thing left in his brain from his previous existence. "I am feeling angry and defenseless," he said. "Master, please give me a weapon so my right side is protected."

"Emotion, but still logic," said Metal Sonic, who had watched the abuse of his creation with the attention of a scientist. "His potential is enormous, Robo Knux. You cannot deny that."

"No," said Robo Knux, staring down Mekion, who was watching him warily. "And he learns fast. Mind if I drill him for weaknesses?"

"If you damage him, I shall take it out of your hull," said Metal Sonic.

"I'm only going to talk to him, sheesh," said Robo Knux, his green eyes brightening in a glare. "Okay Mekion. If I were to kill you in the next five minutes, would you be afraid?"

"No," said Mekion at once.

"If I told you to kill Sonic, what would you do?"

"Would the order come from my Master?" said Mekion, looking at Metal Sonic.

"Yes," said Metal Sonic.

"Then I would kill Sonic," said Mekion.

"He has no idea who the hedgehog is," said Metal Sonic. He relayed a three-dimensional image of Sonic to Mekion's computer/mind input. "Would you kill him if commanded?"

Mekion was silent a moment, and squinted as if he recognized the image. At last he said, "I would kill him."

Robo Knux glanced at Metal Sonic and shared the next question he wanted to ask. Metal Sonic stiffened. "Do not ask him that. It would break his mind. Let him adjust to the fusion process first."

"You take the fun out of everything," growled Robo Knux.

Metal Sonic stepped forward and led Mekion out from behind the table. As the fused creature passed Robo Knux, Mekion made a lightning-quick cut with his claws at Robo Knux's side. It only scratched the paint.

"Hey!" said Robo Knux, moving to retaliate, but Metal Sonic intervened, hand raised. "You started it."

"And he continued it," snapped Robo Knux. But the echidna robot made no further hostile moves, and watched as Metal Sonic guided Mekion through the dark room and out toward the training chambers. If he had been capable of smiling, Robo Knux would have smiled. This newcomer did not take anything lying down.

* * *

Mekion trained in total darkness. He ran obstacle courses, trained with knives and blasters, and engaged in mock combat with Metal Sonic. Mekion's normal eye functioned poorly in darkness, but his robot eye saw with night vision, which Mekion found more comfortable than natural light. Darkness hid him and protected him.

One thing bothered him. His metal half was black, but the fur on his flesh half was snow-white. He pointed this out to Metal Sonic. "White stands out, Master. Could we paint my fur to make me black?"

"Yes, later on," said Metal Sonic. "The reason I have not done so is this." He indicated the strip holding Mekion's halves together. "The fur around this was shaved in preparation for the sutures. If your fur was dyed now, when this grows back it would be white and you would resemble a skunk."

Mekion touched the short, itchy fur and wished his whole body was metal.

* * *

The place where Mekion found himself was a vast, empty underground laboratory of Robotnik's. It covered a square mile with tunnels, rooms, vents and shafts. Robotnik had many underground labs of this sort scattered around the country, and moved between them as the mood struck. The empty ones made great hideouts for the Mecha-bots, who were familiar with their master's technology and layouts.

This particular facility was under a mountain in North Mobius, and it had a construction bay for building small-scale robots. It suited Metal Sonic's tastes, and he set up housekeeping with a new experiment-Mekion-to keep him busy. Robo Knux moved in and out, for assassination jobs were few, and he was bored. He amused himself by annoying Metal Sonic, for the two had a long-standing feud that flared up from time to time.

Mekion was free to wander the complex as he chose. It had few lights, and he found himself at home in the dark tunnels. The one time he opened an outer door was at noon and the light stunned him. It took half an hour of crouching in darkness before his eyes readjusted. After that he did not touch the outer doors, which Metal Sonic noted with satisfaction. There was little chance of Mekion venturing outdoors and losing himself on the mountain slopes.

Mekion spent three months in the underground lab, training under Metal Sonic and learning to co-ordinate his robot and organic halves. His organic side became stronger, and his fur grew in thick and healthy. But his robot side needed no strengthening, and time and again Mekion wished he were all robotic or all organic. His metal arm, leg and eye excelled in combat situations, while his organic side possessed delicate senses of touch, smell and taste. These came in handy when working with small instruments.

At the end of three months, Metal Sonic deemed him ready for a field test. He waited until Mekion was eating his usual set of vitamin-enriched rations, then sat down across the table from him. It was pitch black, as usual, and Metal Sonic kept his eye-lights dim so as not to dazzle his creation. "You are ready for a field test."

Mekion kept eating, but his organic ear pricked forward.

"A field test is when a unit enters the conditions where it is expected to perform, and does a task. I am going to send you on a series of missions to adjust you to the outside world. When you finish we will begin."

Mekion followed his master to the outer door, and stood well back as Metal Sonic unlocked it. But outdoors it was night, and there was no harsh sun to blind him. He slipped out after his Master and found himself ankle-deep in a soft, frigid substance that covered the ground.

"This is snow," said Metal Sonic, scooping some up in a claw and holding it out. "It is frozen water, a form of precipitation. It can contribute to the overcooling of your organic side if you are not careful."

Mekion took the lump of snow and licked it. Cold and tasteless, it melted into water in his mouth. "One could drink this if water was unavailable," he whispered.

"Yes," said Metal Sonic, his eyes glowing with approval for the reasoning powers of his student. "Your first field test is to keep me in sight at all times. Starting now." He walked away down the mountainside and Mekion followed, trying not to slip. To his dismay Metal Sonic ignited the engine in his torso and shot away at an angle. Mekion had to run to keep up.

Metal Sonic stayed within half a mile of the base, shooting up and down, dropping behind piles of rock, keeping track of how long he could break Mekion's line of sight. The lesson came to an unexpected halt when Mekion's organic foot twisted between two rocks and sprained the muscle.

It was three days before Mekion could walk again, and he knew he had displeased his Master by being weak enough to receive injury. A sprained ankle, of all things! His organic side protested that he was working in unknown conditions on a rocky hillside. But his robot side replied that injuries or not, he had failed his mission by being weak.

His next field test was to locate a small beacon hidden on the mountainside and retrieve it. Mekion completed this objective in twenty-four seconds. Metal Sonic immediately sent him out on three more missions.

Conditions varied. Sometimes it was clear, with pale starlight. Other times there was moonlight. Sometimes the wind was blowing, and Mekion's organic side would grow stiff and unresponsive with the cold. Or it might snow, and visibility dropped to nothing. It was midwinter in the Ice Cap mountains, and the weather was cruel.

The tests Mekion disliked the most were survival tests. They came unannounced, and he had to react creatively. His first one happened during a blizzard. It was twenty degrees below zero, and his mission had been to find a red flag by sight and bring it back. He stumbled back to the outer door, fighting the wind, snow plastered to his body and perishing with cold, and found the door was locked.

He stood there, teeth chattering and organic side entering hypothermia, wondering what to do. If he died of cold he had failed. No, he had to get inside somehow. There were other doors leading into the lab-perhaps one was open.

He made it to another door half a mile away, and crouched in the shelter of the frame before he could summon the strength to try the bolt. The door opened, and he dragged himself into the warmth of the base. Metal Sonic was waiting with blankets. He spoke no word of praise, but his personal care for Mekion was reward enough.

Another time Mekion was out on a clear night, following an infrared trail, when Robo Knux attacked him. Metal Sonic had not planned this test, but it was a matter of survival and Mekion intended to survive.

He was taken by surprise, and Robo Knux had laid open his chest and shoulder before Mekion could react. As Robo Knux swept by and circled around, Mekion scanned the area-if he ran, Robo Knux would catch him. He had to hide. To his left was an outcropping with gaps between the rocks. He squeezed into one of these, robot-side out, and turned to face Robo Knux, who leered into the crevice.

"Smart one, aren't we, Mekion? Hiding like a little rabbit."

Mekion didn't know what a rabbit was, but they must be smart if they hid in rocks. He waited until Robo Knux reached in to claw at him, then caught his enemy's arm in his robot hand and pulled. Robo Knux's head slammed into the rocks. He ripped his arm out of Mekion's grasp and stood back, thinking. Mekion waited. His robot side was in control, alert to the situation and ignoring his organic side, which was shivering with cold and burning with pain across his collarbone.

Robo Knux flew up on top of the outcropping and reached down from above, trying to rake the top of Mekion's head with his claws. Mekion was wedged too smugly to duck, so he grabbed Robo Knux's hand and yanked. This time he pulled the robot's arm down and pinched it between his body and the rock, so Robo Knux could not withdraw his hand.

Robo Knux struggled and cursed, but Mekion was strong and had leverage on his side. Robo Knux fought until he realized his arm was separating at the shoulder, then lay still on top of the rock. "You're a smart one, Mekion."

Mekion said nothing.

"Let me go?" said Robo Knux. After a moment he added, "I'll let you go back to the base. Come on."

When Mekion did not answer, Robo Knux said, "It was all in fun. I wasn't going to hurt you much, I swear."

Mekion continued to wait.

"You'll freeze to death in a few hours," said Robo Knux, peering down into the crevice at Mekion's head. "I'll win by default because you're weak."

Mekion said nothing.

Robo Knux searched his databanks for creative ways to verbally abuse his opponent, and struck on the question Metal Sonic had forbade him to ask. "Hey Mekion," said the red robot, green eyes lighting up, "do you remember Maria?"

Mekion's robot side analyzed this question and rejected it as nonsense before it could register in his organic brain. Still without speaking, he lifted his robot hand and began to punch holes in the metal skin of Robo Knux's arm. If he could get a row of these holes, he could break off the arm and deprive Robo Knux of his claws.

Robo Knux was watching, however, and realized what Mekion was doing. He reached down with his other hand and swiped at the organic side of Mekion's face. Mekion flinched, and Robo Knux wrenched his arm free. He examined the holes punctured in his metal. "When you come out of there, you're going to pay for this."

Mekion weighed his options. It was true that he was slowly freezing to death in this crevice, and he could not stay here much longer. But Robo Knux was unaffected by the temperature-in fact, the cold made his hardware work better. If Mekion was to reach shelter, he had to leave now, when Robo Knux was least expecting it.

He bolted from cover and had a head start by the time Robo Knux fired up his engines and roared after him. Mekion leaped rocks and skidded through patches of snow, reckless in his haste. He was not afraid-death was not an option for him-but he was intent on passing this survival test, even if he injured himself racing back.

Mekion reached the door a breath ahead of Robo Knux and whisked inside. There was no time to shut the door, and Robo Knux could get in, anyway. Leaving the door open, Mekion fled through the darkness, panting, entered his private chamber and slammed the door. It had no locks, so he set himself against the door to hold it shut.

Exactly thirty-seven minutes later, there came a light knock on the door. Mekion rasped, "Who is it?"

"Your Master," said Metal Sonic. "The fiend has been dealt with. You have passed a survival test."

In relief Mekion left the door and collapsed on his cot, drawing a blanket over himself. The scratch across his chest painted him, but he decided it was unimportant, and fell asleep at once.

When he awoke he could scarcely move his organic arm, and went in search of his Master.

Metal Sonic glanced at the cuts and said, "Wash them and bandage them. You should not have let him harm you."

And so Mekion came to despise survival tests, for his organic side let him down in extreme situations.

* * *

After this, Mekion began training for daylight conditions. Metal Sonic sent him out in the twilight before dawn, when the light was low. Mekion learned to cope with it. Then his training moved up a few hours, and Mekion was outside at sunrise and able to bear it. He did not like it, but his eyes could function, and light did not hurt him as much.

"Why, Master?" he asked. "I am a creature of darkness. It is my element. Why make me move about in daylight?"

"Your first mission is forthcoming," said Metal sonic. "You must be able to function in daylight conditions to accomplish your objectives."

A mission. Mekion felt a thrill of excitement in his organic heart. Not a mere field test-a mission that would put to use all the skills he had learned! He threw himself into his daylight training, determined to master every obstacle Metal Sonic could throw at him.

It came almost too soon. Mekion doubted that he was prepared, but he said nothing as he stood in his dark room and faced his Master, who spoke without moving.

"You have been trained in combat, but on this mission you are not to use weapons. Your mission is to come within three feet of critical targets, record their images in your mechanical eye, and return to base. The targets must be unaware of your presence at all times. By revealing yourself you fail an objective. Now. Your primary target is ..."

The words "Sonic Hedgehog" appeared in Mekion's mechanical mind input.

"He is your most dangerous opponent," Metal Sonic went on. "Your second target is Miles Prower, also known as Tails. Your third target is Knuckles Echidna. Above all, you must not be seen."

Mekion nodded with excitement. "Yes Master."

Mekion was equipped with a map of the Robotropolis and Great Forest area, and a partial map of the Floating Island. Then Metal sonic escorted him to the door and said, "You are expected to find your own nourishment. It is part of the mission. Survival is one of your objectives."

Oh great, another survival test. Mekion said nothing, and stepped out onto the snowy mountainside. Metal Sonic closed the door behind him, and the cyborg was alone with no assets but his wits and his databanks.

The night was clear and crisp, and a crescent moon hung low in the west. Mekion drew a deep breath and felt the cold stab his organic side like a thousand needles. He must travel south to reach the Great Forest, and travel would be easier at a lower altitude. On clear mornings he had seen the lowlands, which were less rocky. Mekion set off down the mountain.

There was a thin path that zigzagged back and forth across the slope, weaving its way down through the snow and boulders. Mekion had never followed it more than two miles, and now was excited that he was able to follow it to wherever it went. Fur fluffed out against the cold and clanking faintly, the black and white cyborg faded into the night.

* * *

"That's the dumbest set of objectives I've ever heard," said Robo Knux.

He and Metal Sonic were looking at a green-lit radar map in the mountain base, watching Mekion's progress. Metal Sonic had just informed his brother-robot of Mekion's objectives.

"I mean, they're sure to notice him," Robo Knux went on. "He's still half-white, for crying out loud! Won't they recognize him?"

"If he is seen, yes," said Metal Sonic. "But avoiding detection is what he was trained for."

"Avoiding detection nothing," spat Robo Knux. "You know who he is. What if he remembers them and defects?"

"It does not matter where he is or what he does with himself," said Metal Sonic, glass-paneled eyes reflecting the screen. "He has been conditioned with three critical laws that he cannot break. He will always belong to me."

"I could kill him for you."

"There is no need for that. Besides, you would take unnecessary damage." Metal Sonic looked at the unpatched holes in Robo Knux's arm. "If he must be destroyed, I will do it myself. He has been conditioned against hurting me. He would only stand there while I ripped him to pieces."

Neither robot spoke, but their eyes followed the progress of the green dot that was Mekion. He was marked and did not know it.


	2. Arrival

Sonic lay on his back in a narrow tunnel, safety goggles clamped over his eyes. He had a hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other, and was tapping at the rock. Once in a while a few chips would come loose, which he caught and placed in a bucket beside him. The hedgehog was covered in dirt from head to toe, and wore a helmet with a light on it. Sweat   
stained his blue fur, for the air was sweltering hot. The sound of   
another hammer echoed along the tunnel, for Tails was busy further down   
the mine.

After a while Sonic dropped his arms to his sides, laid his head back and rested. "How are you doing, Tails?" he called.

"All right," came the fox's voice. "Ready for a break, I think."

"Me too." Sonic sat up, picked up his bucket, and began to crawl out of the shaft, dragging the bucket with him.

He emerged in a blue cavern illuminated by glowing crystals in the ceiling and walls. Here and there veins of blue peeked out of the rock wall and floor, giving the impression of active electricity. In a corner of this cave, buried among stacks of gear, was an ice chest. Sonic opened it and removed a bottle of water. He was drinking it when Tails crawled out of the tunnel. He slid down the pile of loose rock at the mine entrance and carried his own bucket up to Sonic. He set it down, took out another bottle of water, and drank deeply. For several minutes neither spoke.

Finally Tails set down his bottle and peered into his bucket with the manic fascination of a treasure-hunter. "Look at this, Sonic." He pulled out a lump of red stone with a faint glow in its heart. "You think it's worth polishing?"

Sonic set his water aside and examined the stone. "It's awfully small, but you never know. Keep it." The hedgehog dug into his own bucket with a grin. "Check this out." He held up a fist-sized chunk of yellow metal.

Tails's eyes popped. "Gold! You found gold?"

"I think so. You think this ought to be enough to pay for a chao?"

"I don't know," said Tails, staring at the gold enviously. "Can I have your spot tomorrow?"

"Heck no! I've struck the mother lode, man. Knux could be rolling in dough if he bothered to dig it up."

"Who says I'm not?" said Knuckles, walking into the cavern. The echidna had a sandwich in one hand, and in the other he carried his digging claws. "Notice that I own my chao, and you two don't."

"That'll change soon," said Sonic with a smirk, displaying his lump of gold. "This could pay for all five."

Knuckles glanced at it and took a bite of his sandwich. "You need to study more geology, Sonic."

"Why? I know gold when I see it."

"That's iron pyrite," said Knuckles. "Fool's gold. It's worthless."

Sonic looked sheepishly at his golden lump, and Tails burst out laughing.

Knuckles sat on the ice chest and finished his sandwich. "So what else have you guys found?"

"Nothing," said Sonic, dumping his bucket on the floor. It was full of fool's gold.

"I found some neat rocks," said Tails, and took out his red rock.

Knuckles examined it, brows furrowed. "Too bad this is so small. It would be worth something. Keep it, I'll look at it closer later."

Sonic pulled off his safety glasses. "There's got to be easier ways to make money."

"Hey, this wasn't my idea," said knuckles, grinning. "You wanted to dig for crystals. I suggested you get a job as a cop on the Speed Highway."

"I thought this would be faster," mumbled Sonic.

"Well, I kind of like it," said Tails, who had a clear case of gold fever. "It's like hunting for buried treasure! I'm going back in." The fox emptied his bucket into a larger bucket, and scrambled into the dark shaft.

Sonic watched him go. "I'm about ready to give up," he told the red echidna. "It's been a week and I haven't found anything."

"Show me where you've been working," said Knuckles, strapping on his shovelclaws. "I know there's good crystal vein down here, that's why I had you start in this section."

Sonic put his gear back on and crawled into the mine shaft again, Knuckles behind him. "Right here is where I found the fool's gold," said Sonic, shining his head lamp onto the ceiling of the tunnel. There was a shallow indent in the roof, and Knuckles inspected it.

"You're going to need some extra supports here, Sonic."

"I know," said Sonic. "But I thought it'd be okay for a while. "I also worked down here-" He crawled away down the passage.

"Sonic, I don't need a cave-in," said Knuckles. "It would ruin my day, and yours, too."

"It's not a very big hole," said Sonic over his shoulder.

"Trust the echidna on this one," said Knuckles. "I do this for fun, you know. I know what an unstable passage looks like."

Sonic indicated three other places where he had worked, then they reached Tails's spot. The fox had worked there for a week, and had excavated a five-foot cavern. He had standing room, and looked down as they peered into his cave. "Hi guys. Look how much I've dug out!"

A muscle flexed in Knuckles's jaw. "Tails, you need some supports in here."

"It's solid rock," said Tails, tapping the wall. "It ought to support this little hollow."

Sonic noticed Knuckles's jaw muscle jump again. "Don't move, Tails, I'll be right back." He scrambled away on all fours, and Sonic and Tails gazed after him.

"He's freaked out," Sonic observed. "Tails, maybe you shouldn't dig anymore just yet."

Knuckles returned, dragging three heavy wooden beams and a power drill. He bolted these together in a doorframe-shape across the middle of Tails's cave, and went back for more wood. Sonic went to help him, and Tails resumed hammering.

Knuckles did not speak again until he had braced up the roof of Tails's cavern and had cross-braced Sonic's spot. Then he rested out in the blue cave, panting and swigging water from a borrowed bottle. Sonic sat beside him. "Was it that bad?"

Knuckles side-eyed him. "Oh yeah, it was bad." He took another drink, eyes fixed on the far wall. "Let's just say that Tails is lucky to be alive."

Sonic studied his dirt-encrusted goggles. "I don't want to do this anymore."

Knuckles nodded. "Okay. Go topside and run. You'll feel better."

Sonic turned to the shaft. "Hey Tails! I'm going to the surface!"

"Okay, Sonic!" came the echoes of the fox's voice.

The hedgehog and echidna trotted out of the blue cave and up a winding, mile-long passage to the surface of the Floating Island. "How come these tunnels aren't supported?" Sonic asked. Mining had made him aware of how things worked underground.

"Oh, they are," said Knuckles. "These tunnels are very old, and over the years mineral deposits have covered the original supports."

They walked in silence for several minutes, matching strides. "Could I get a loan?" Sonic asked suddenly.

"No way," said Knuckles. "You want money, you work for it like the rest of us."

"I could pay you back!"

"Get a job, you bum." knuckles shoved Sonic, who shoved back.

"I don't appreciate it when people gloat over my misfortune," said Sonic. "How come you're in such a good mood?"

"Hydrocity gave me a good deal on water," said Knuckles. "We're connected right now, and about time, too."

"I thought Hydrocity was too far north to visit this time of year," said Sonic.

"I needed water," said Knuckles. "I'll move the island south again tomorrow." There was a moment of silence, and Sonic caught a whiff of cold fresh air from the entrance. "And Zephyer's coming for a visit," Knuckles added.

"Aha, I knew it!" Sonic grinned. "Lover-boy's walking on air, I can see it from here!" Knuckles swung at him, and Sonic dodged, laughing. "You're too high off the floor to hit me, ha ha! Knuckles and Zephyer, sitting in a tree-"

"You're so immature," said Knuckles.

Sonic stuck out his tongue and raced ahead, singing at the top of his lungs, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G-"

He was ought of sight up the tunnel when there came a crash and a yell from Sonic. Knuckles broke into a run, thinking of cave-ins. He rounded the final bend and reached the cave entrance, and a chilly wind stung his face. Sonic was sprawled on the ground, and Zephyer was standing over him with a tree branch like a club in both hands. "Don't you ever, ever sing that song again," she was growling.

"Okay Zeff, geez," said Sonic, scrambling to his feet and holding his head. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"I just held it out as you came barreling by," said the robotized echidna. She looked at Knuckles. "Was he bothering you?"

"Not bad enough for a pounding," said Knuckles, brushing a hand across his mouth to keep from breaking into laughter. The fury on Zephyer's face and the surprise on Sonic's were classic. He wished he had a camera.

Zephyer dropped her club and looked at Sonic. "Sorry about that. I used to get so mad when kids would sing that, and to hear you singing it about me ..."

"I was just teasing," said Sonic, rubbing his head. "Give me a heads up next time I tick you off, okay? That way I can duck." He sidled past her. "I'm going for a run." As he trotted away down the path, he broke into song again. "First comes love, then comes marriage-"

Zephyer threw her stick at him, but he laughed and sped out of sight. She breathed an Old Mobian curse and looked at Knuckles. "I've been reading that book you gave me."

"I can tell," said Knuckles. "Soon you'll be speaking Old Mobian like an echidna."

"I don't know," she said, shivering in a gust of chilly wind. "Languages have never been my strong suit. But it's sure fun to learn to swear in it."

"It's warmer underground," said Knuckles, noticing Zephyer's discomfort.

She nodded. "Okay, let's go. Show me where they've been digging."

Knuckles let the way into the tunnel. "Maybe I should have drilled them on structural support first-you'll never believe what Tails did ..."

A winter wind swept the island, and the tropical plants bent under it. Like Zephyer, they, too, disliked the cold of winter.

center* * */center

Mekion's fuel was running low. His robot brain registered it as such, but his organic side told him it was hungry.

The cyborg was far from civilization, and had little knowledge of foraging. He had descended the mountain, guided by the winding path, until he reached the forested foothills. Here the snow was less, and under the trees it was only a few inches deep. Mekion followed the trail until it faded away and left him in the woods, hungry and shivering. He consulted his inner compass and set out southward.

He traveled at a light jog, slowing to a walk whenever he grew tired. The exercise kept him warm and helped him travel many miles, but it sapped his meager energy reserves. Mekion found his organic side weakening with exhaustion and hunger, and grew angry. His robot side was tireless and did not feel the cold. But the strip along the midline of his body burned where cold metal met warm flesh, and his flesh wanted to stop and rest. For a while he sated his hunger by holding snow in his mouth until it melted, but his body was not so easily fooled. It continued to demand food.

When the sun rose, Mekion greeted it with mixed feelings. He despised the light that revealed him and his footprints, but it lessened the cold a few welcome degrees. And it did not give him food. All he could do was keep walking, and hope he happened across something edible.

He traveled all that day across lonely, empty country. Once he happened across a valley with a tall, dark spire in the center-a fortress shaped like a fang. His instruments informed him it was abandoned, and he continued on, wondering who had inhabited the fortress and where they had gone.

Night fell and Mekion was still walking, although he could hardly force his organ leg to carry him. Part of him wanted to lie down and sleep, but his robot mind informed him that doing so in this climate would overcool him and he would freeze to death. He had to keep moving.

By this time he was hungry enough to eat anything. He needed fuel and his stomach had become an aching hole in his center that he would do anything to satisfy. The next time he made a journey he would bring food with him.

Thus it was that he detoured ten miles to the east when his instruments indicated a small town. Where there were people there was food. This knowledge came from his past life, when he had found food in such places.

It was the middle of the night when he drifted through the town like the ghost of a shadow. His nose and scanners let him to the town's grocery store, which he entered by forcing a lock on a back door. Once inside the dark, food-scented warmth of the building, he found the bread and devoured two whole loaves. He washed it down with a carton pulled at random from the shelf, sampled the meat department, and tore through the produce.

His hunger satisfied, Mekion secured three loaves of bread, cleaned up the mess he had made, and left the store, scuffing out his footprints in the snow. On the outskirts of town he found a barn containing both cows and hay. He crept into this hay once he assured himself that the cows were herbivores, and slept for twelve hours. He awoke near noon the following day, ate some bread, and went back to sleep until nightfall.

The owners of the store had never seen a robbery like it, where only food had been stolen, and the thief placed empty wrappers and containers in a row by the doors. The following night they sat up with video cameras and police, but by then Mekion was miles away and traveling fast.

After the first town Mekion found others, for he had entered milder, inhabited country. He never went hungry again, and could find somewhere to sleep when he could not force his organic side to take another step.

Had he known it, Mekion would have realized that his flesh body was not made for this kind of punishment. He lost weight and had to rest more and more often. He was teetering on the edge of illness, and had a mild fever when he crested a rise and saw below him the brave new buildings of New Mobitropolis among the rubble of Robotropolis.

He had reached the territory of his targets. He must lie low now and learn of their whereabouts.

Finding the location of Knothole was simple, as it was the stopping place of most workers and businesses before they ventured out to New Mobitropolis. Knothole had become a thriving little down in the heart of the forest, and after investigating it, Mekion understood why his Master had lost interest in destroying it. The Freedom Fighters had become civilians again, and seemed quite happy about it.

Mekion took to sleeping all day in the basement of an empty house, and roaming Knothole at night, seeking his two primary targets, Sonic and Tails. It was this habit that restored him to health, for his body was able to recover from the beating he had given it.

After a week he began to worry. Sonic and Tails were not here-he had gathered as much by eavesdropping on conversations. If they were not here, where were they? What if he could not accomplish his primary objectives? No, he reminded himself. This is a mission, and you'll accomplish it or die trying.

He chanced across Sally one evening. The squirrel was holed up in her hut, seated at her desk and surrounded by stacks of paper. She was talking on a phone. Mekion turned his audio sensors on her, and picked up her voice through the window.

"No, I don't know when they'll be back," she was saying. "Sonic's willing to do anything but get a job. I think Knuckles is going to drive it home that a job's an easier way of making money. Yeah, Tails is with him."

There was a pause, and Mekion fit these pieces together. If Sonic and Tails were with Knuckles, then that meant they must be on the Floating Island. He kept listening.

"Yeah, they'll go south," Sally said, examining her fingernails. "It's too cold this time of year, it'd kill off all the plants on the island." After a moment she grinned and said, "Oh, they'll be able to get back. The teleporters don't care about physical distance. Even Knuckles doesn't know how they work-I've heard Tails begging him to take one apart and see what's inside." A pause. "No, what's the latest?" There was a long pause, and Mekion watched as Sally picked up a pen and twirled it in her fingers, listening with a smile. Once in a while she would say, "No!" or "Really?" or "Get out of here!"

Mekion decided she wouldn't say anything of further interest and drifted off along the street until he could duck into the woods.

One reached the Floating Island by teleporter. It was probably nearby, if Sally referred to it so casually. Perhaps he could locate it-otherwise reaching the Floating Island would be prohibitively difficult.

He began a circle of Knothole, senses and scanners alert for any kind of unusual technology, avoiding porch lights and lit windows. Darkness was his cloak, and with so many people here he might be seen. He wished he had dyed his fur black before accepting the mission.

The teleporter was easier to locate than he thought. A short distance out in the woods he detected a large object with the signature of a power crystal. He made his way toward it, and came upon a small fenced area. Inside the fence was a flat disk on a blue crystal stand-a teleporter. According to his instruments it was made of power crystal.

He scaled the fence and examined the teleporter from all sides. There were no switches that he could see. Perhaps it was pressure-sensitive. He stepped onto the disk.

The power surge shut down his robot part, but his organic side remained awake through the blast of light and the sensation of flying forward at terrific speed. When he arrived on the receiver disk on the Floating Island, his robot side was dead, and he fell over, unable to maintain balance with half his body. He lay there on the grass, his organic eye blinking. This had never happened before. His robot half had come out worst for once. He tried to life himself, but his organic arm could not lift the weight of his half-paralyzed body. He collapsed back to the grass and lay still, hoping his systems would come back online.

Ten minutes later the sight returned to his left eye, and his left ear picked up sound again. He moved his robot limbs and stood up as his sensors came on one by one. He noted to himself that machinery and Echidnaen technology did not mix, and set off to explore this mysterious island.


	3. Discovery

Thus it was that Mekion was on the island when Sonic was going for a run after escaping the closeness of the Lava Reef crystal mine. Sonic was unaware of the cyborg's presence as he raced against the wind and dodged between swaying palm trees. Everywhere the green of the island was   
turning a soft brown as the chill of winter wreaked havoc on the   
warm-weather vegetation.

Sonic paid no attention. He thought only of how glad he was to escape the mine and the claustrophobia that had been growing on him for days. He was ashamed to admit this weakness to Tails or Knuckles. Sonic had never had claustrophobia, but lately it seemed as if the shaft was shrinking, and there was less air than usual. When he began panicking he pretended to take a break. And all he had found was fool's gold. Maybe looking for work in the human colonies wasn't as humiliating as it sounded.

Sonic found himself on a trail leading to Chaotix Central, and sped along it. Maybe he would drop by Knuckles's house and grab something to eat.

The only ones in Chaotix Central were Talon and two chao. Talon was a young anteater who had come under Knuckles's protection a few years ago, and he was tossing a frisbee to the chao. Sonic stopped and watched them. There was Chimera, Knuckles's dragon chao. He was dark brown with horns growing from his head, and he pounced on the frisbee as if disemboweling it. This was the chao Knuckles had bought, and Sonic was envious. Sonic's chao, Velocity, was down in the gardens of the Chao Company, and buying a chao took a hefty amount of cash.

The other chao was gleaming silver with two rhino horns protruding from his forehead. He caught and threw the frisbee with concentration. "Hi Sonic!" he called, waving a paw.

"Hi Zinc, hi guys," said Sonic, walking up. "Toss me the frisbee." Talon threw it to him, and Sonic caught it and threw it to Chimera.

"I thought you were in Lava Reef," said Talon, making a dive for the frisbee as Chimera hurled it in his general direction.

"Taking a lunch break," said Sonic.

Talon threw the frisbee to Zinc. "I tried digging down there, but it scared me too bad."

Sonic smirked and mouthed, "Me too." Talon gave him a shy smile, and Sonic knew that this secret was safe with him.

"Talon's a pansy wimp," said Chimera.

Zinc threw the frisbee at the brown chao with such force that it struck Chimera in the face. "Take that back."

"Why do you care?" snarled Chimera, rubbing his face. "You're not his chao."

"It was mean," said Zinc.

"But it's the truth!" said Chimera. "Talon's a wimp, don't deny it."

Zinc growled, ran up and tackled him. The two wrestled and fought, the frisbee forgotten.

Talon turned to Sonic. "No use playing any more."

"Does he make fun of you all the time?" Sonic asked, following the anteater as Talon walked off toward Knuckles's house.

"Only when you're around," said Talon. "He wants to impress you."

Sonic shook his head and looked over his shoulder at the warring chao. Suddenly he missed Velocity. "I'm going to run some more," he said, and bolted away through the trees.

center* * */center

Zinc and Chimera were an even match, and were biting and scratching when suddenly Zinc stiffened and hissed, "Shh!"

Chimera froze and looked around. "What, what?"

The silver chao released the brown one and stood up, staring at the trees across the clearing that was Chaotix Central. Chimera got up and followed his gaze.

Framed in the shadows beneath the trees was a black and white hedgehog. It was watching them.

"Who is that?" whispered Zinc.

Chimera squinted. "He looks kind of familiar. Maybe I bit him once."

"No," said Zinc, sniffing. "I know his smell. What does he remind you of?"

"The chao-hater!" Chimera said at once. "I remember him! He was that black hedgehog who jumped the wall of the Chao Garden."

"Oh yeah," said Zinc, eyes narrowing. "He was the one who killed Nox."

"I only thought he hurt Nox."

"No, Nox died right after the thing with the ARK. You wouldn't know, you had regressed."

"What do we do? What if he attacks us?"

As if he had heard them, the stranger turned and vanished into the trees.

"I guess that answers that question," said Chimera. "Should I tell Knuckles?"

"Of course," said Zinc. "And I'll tell Zephyer. They might want to try to catch him."

"I can help with that," said Chimera with a fiendish smile. "I'll bite him good for killing Nox. Nox was the only one who liked me when I was bad."

center* * */center

The chao-hater. How quaint. Mekion slipped through the palm forests like a ghost, looking for somewhere dark where he could sleep. He had happened across the chao by accident. There was nothing in his mission about chao, so he could ignore them, and yet they reminded him of something ... something mortal and near to his heart. He also found it odd that they recognized him and remembered him being cruel to one of their kind. He remembered nothing of the sort.

In fact, he didn't remember much of anything.

He found a thick clump of bushes covered in red flowers and crawled under them, where he sensed there was a hollow. He curled up between the roots of the bushes, and thought.

Nox. Who was Nox? He ran a database search on the word, and turned up only the meaning: darkness. Perhaps his Master knew about this chao Mekion had supposedly killed.

The chao-hater, they called him. As his robot side idled and his organic side dozed, he found the title disturbing.

center* * */center

"And Knuckles said I should keep this one, because it glows," said Tails, holding up his red rock. Talon examined it without speaking. Tails dug through his bucket. "Check out this other one! It doesn't glow, but it's bigger."

Talon took the stone and looked at it. "Wow."

The two were seated on the floor of Knuckles's living room near the fireplace. They had eaten dinner, and outdoors it was dark and windy. Sonic lay sprawled on the tattered, threadbare sofa, his spines piercing it in a dozen places. Knuckles had left gashes in it over the years, so a few more holes didn't hurt.

"What's the matter, Talon?" Sonic asked. "Jealous?"

Talon gave him a sarcastic glance from under his black forelock. "Are you?"

"No," said Sonic without moving, for his embedded spines held him motionless. "Although digging up a truckload of fool's gold has left me kind of discouraged."

"Hey, I'll share!" said Tails. "We'll buy our chao, and I'll get new parts for the Cyclone with the rest."

"You're doing this to buy your chao?" said Talon, looking at the gemstone in his hands. "Maybe I should try some digging again."

"And boy is it nice to be home!" exclaimed Chimera, trotting into the living room. "What are you guys doing?"

"Looking at rocks," said Tails, displaying one.

The dragon-chao peered into his bucket. "Oh wow! What do you use these for? Throwing at people?"

"No," said Tails. "I can get them cut into rubies and stuff."

"I'd use them for ammunition," said Chimera. "Maybe I'll throw some at Knuckles when he comes back. Serves him right for leaving without me."

"Him and Zephyer," said Sonic, grinning. "Sitting in a tree ..."

"How does that song go?" Chimera asked. "I could really tick off Zephyer with it."

"Take my advice, don't," said Sonic. "But it goes like this ..."

center* * */center

Knuckles and Zephyer had a pleasant walk at first, as the twilight faded into night and the wind dropped. Zephyer was wrapped in a thick cloak, for the cold air penetrated the metal that encased her body. Zinc, on the other hand, ran and played about her feet, ignoring the weather.

As dusk faded to a green band in the west and the sky crowded with stars, the wind returned and lashed the trees. Zephyer pulled her cloak around her. "Let's go back, Knuckles. I'm freezing."

"All right," said Knuckles, who was feeling the cold, himself. "We'll head south soon. I've taken on all the water I need."

"You should hurry," said Zephyer as they walked down a hill back toward the distant Chaotix Central. "The poor island isn't used to winters like this. A few good frosts and there goes your flora."

Knuckles looked at her and allowed himself a smile. She was thinking like a guardian.

Zephyer looked around. "Zinc?" They stopped and peered about in the darkness for him, and spotted him back up the hill, watching something in the trees. "Zinc, come on," said Zephyer. When the chao did not stir, she gave Knuckles a worried glance and climbed back up the hill.

"Zinc?" said Zephyer, bending over him. "What are you doing?"

"He's watching us from the trees," said the silver chao, unblinking. "Look."

Zephyer straightened up, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. She followed his gaze, but could only see waving palm trees and bending brush. "Knuckles," she said as he reached her, "Zinc's watching somebody."

"It's probably Espio spying on us," said Knuckles. "The Chaotix have a revolving gossip network, you know."

"It's not Espio," said Zinc without blinking. "It's a hedgehog with a red eye."

The two echidnas stared at the spot where Zinc was looking. It seemed that they could see a red speck that did not move among the chaotic darkness of the wood. Knuckles laid a hand on Zephyer's shoulder. "Run back to the house. I can't imagine what Metal Sonic's doing here."

"It's not Metal Sonic," said Zinc quietly. "It's the chao-hater. Chimera and I saw him this afternoon."

"Chao-hater?" said Zephyer. "You sure it's not Metal Sonic?"

"His name was Shadow," said Zinc. "He's half black and half white now, but his smell is the same. He's been watching us."

Knuckles gripped Zephyer's shoulder for support. He felt as if he had taken a blow to the head. "Shadow?" he gasped. "Shadow? You're sure?"

Zephyer grasped his arm. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Zinc, you're sure?"

"Positive," said Zinc, never taking his eyes from the place where he had seen the spy. "I'd know him anywhere after what he did to Nox."

There was a glint of movement as something darted away through the trees, and Zinc's head followed it. "He's gone now."

Knuckles released Zephyer and strode a few paces after the cyborg, then turned back. "Shadow's dead," he said, but it was a question.

"If he has a glowing eye, he must be a robot now," said Zephyer. She picked up Zinc and wrapped him in her cloak.

"A robot," said Knuckles, his mind groping for explanations. "Sure. Maybe they robotized him or something. Yeah, that has to be it. But what's he doing here?"

"Looking for Sonic?" said Zephyer.

Knuckles ran both hands through his dreadlocks in a gesture of desperation. "Sonic can't find out about this. Zeff, he's finally accepted Shadow's death. Learning he's still alive will send him over the edge again." He peered at the waving trees. "No, we can't tell him. He's barely recovered from the Twilight fiasco. Why did Shadow have to come HERE?"

"If he's a robot now," said Zephyer slowly, "who robotized him? And what if they sent him after us?"

Knuckles looked at her a long moment. "I think we should get indoors."

The two echidnas set off at a fast walk, peering around at the bushes and trees, which had become menacing, shadowy places in the darkness. Zinc rode on Zephyer's shoulder with his claws twisted in her dreadlocks, his silver head turning this way and that.

The lights of the house came into view, and Knuckles said, "Neither of you tell Sonic that Shadow is here."

"Chimera knows about Shadow, too," said the chao, "but we weren't going to tell anyone until we had told you."

"But we have to warn them," said Zephyer. "No matter who he was, he's a robot now and probably dangerous."

"I'll just say it's a new Mecha-like robot," said Knuckles, frowning.

Nothing more was said until they entered the house. Chimera ran up to Knuckles and Zephyer, singing the 'sitting in a tree' song in his scratchy voice. Zephyer ignored him and went to warm herself by the fire. Knuckles picked up Chimera and whispered to him what had happened.

To keep anyone from noticing this, Zephyer said, "Sonic, are you stuck to that couch?"

Sonic was still lying on his back, his spines stuck in the cushions. "Yep," he said. "It's cool not to worry about the furniture. You have a nice walk?"

"Kind of," said Zephyer. "We saw something out there."

Tails and Talon looked up from where Tails's rocks were scattered on the hearth. "What? The Chaotix sneak up on you?"

"Oh, she's pulling your leg," said Sonic. "Her and Knux were probably too busy playing kissy-face-"

"No they didn't," said Zinc. "I watched the whole time. Zephyer won't let him near her-"

"Zinc!" hissed Zephyer.

The chao blinked at her. "Well, you won't. I was just telling them."

"So what'd you see?" asked Tails.

Knuckles stepped into the circle of firelight, Chimera in the crook of one arm like a cat. "It was a robot, maybe one of the Mecha-bots."

Tails and Talon froze, and Sonic sat up so quickly that some of his blue spines remained embedded in the sofa. "Which one?"

"We think it's a new one," said Knuckles, catching Zephyer's eye. "It's black and white with red eyes."

There was a moment of silence as Sonic picked his spines out of the couch.

"Was it like Leviathan?" ventured Tails.

"No, hedgehog or something," said Knuckles, checking Sonic's face to see if he had said too much.

Sonic only looked worried. "What's it doing here, I wonder?"

"Probably wants to kill somebody," said Chimera, grinning wickedly. "We'll wake up tomorrow and somebody will have their guts hanging out-"

"Chimera!" said Zephyer. "Gross!"

Sonic stood up. "Well, all that means is we start carrying weapons. You tell the Chaotix yet?"

"No," said Knuckles. "They're holed up somewhere until I take us south again."

"Will we be okay tonight?" Zephyer asked.

Knuckles glanced at the walls and listened for a minute. "Yeah, if he didn't attack us earlier, I doubt he'll attack us now." He smacked a fist into his palm. "He's going to find out I don't like robots intruding on my property."


	4. Encounter

Mekion stood outside the house, his audio sensors turned to the voices inside. He smiled to himself. He had located Sonic and Tails. He had tried to sneak close to Knuckles, but when he was almost within range, the female echidna's silver chao had turned and saw him. The chao stared at him until it alerted his target to his presence, and now they were all on guard. His job would be harder now, but not impossible.

As for the assumption that he would attack them, he had to admire their foresight. A future mission might involve such parameters. He had considered entering the house, but the risk of being caught was too great.

Mekion retreated to the shelter of a tree that blocked the wind and watched as one by one the lights turned off. His instruments told him they had ceased moving around and had retired for the night. All except one. One person was pacing to and fro in its room, back and forth, over and over.

The night deepened and still that figure paced up and down. Mekion wondered why it was still awake. Curious but patient, he watched it pace for another fifteen minutes.

The person left its room. Mekion tracked it through the house, and watched when the door opened and Knuckles stepped out. The echidna was wearing a jacket, and his steel shovelclaws were strapped on his hands. He hurried away into the night, and Mekion ghosted after him. It was the perfect opportunity to take a snapshot of Knuckles from within three feet.

Knuckles headed down the trail toward the edge of the island, and Mekion followed him, watching for hiding places where he could draw close to his quarry without being seen. He noticed the trail was flanked on the right by a dense banana-palm grove. Mekion circled around to come up on the path through the palm grove ahead of Knuckles. The wind made so much noise that his rustling was drowned out, and he blessed the wind, cold as it was.

He reached the trail ahead of Knuckles and positioned himself with his robot eye set to image capture mode. As Knuckles walked past him, Mekion opened his shutter and engraved the echidna's image into his databank. His shutter clicked as it closed, and Knuckles's head jerked up at the sound. His eyes met Mekion's.

For a second the two stared at each other. Then Knuckles sprang at him, and Mekion leaped backward by reflex. He collided with a palm tree and fell, his organic mind panicking. He scrambled to his feet and started to bolt, and Knuckles's steel-clad hand closed on his organic arm.

"Wait a second," the echidna panted. "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

Mekion tried to twist away, but the echidna was strong, and his grip hurt the cyborg's arm. "Let me go," he whispered.

"Who are you?" Knuckles said.

Mekion was so close he could see Knuckles's dilated pupils and smell his breath. His robot brain informed him that this situation was a breach of all prior training, and the advisable action was to free himself and run. Mekion clawed at Knuckles's hand with his robot claws, but they only glanced off the echidna's shovelclaws. "Please let me go!" he screamed in a whisper.

"Tell me your name!" Knuckles commanded, gripping Mekion's arm in both hands.

Mekion's organic mind was taking control, and unreasoning terror consumed him. "Mekion!" he cried in his whispering voice. He twisted, slashed wildly at the echidna's arms, and wrenched free. Then he ran without looking back.

He did not stop running until his adrenaline was exhausted, and he had put two miles between himself and Knuckles. He found himself in a swampy area with tall grass everywhere, so he pushed into the grass until he found a dry spot, and sat down to rest. His organic half was shaking, and he rubbed his arm where the echidna had gripped him. He reviewed the image he had snapped-slightly blurred, it showed Knuckles walking by with a frown. Mekion did not know that his shutter clicked so loudly-he would take precautions next time.

But he was only thinking about his mission because half of him was still sick with fear. He had never been handled like that before. It brought to the surface a memory of humans in black clothes grabbing him and dragging him places he did not want to go, and he recalled his old voice-before he could only whisper-screaming a name over and over. It was a vague memory, full of fear and a loathing of being touched, for being touched meant being caught and hurt.

He drew breath after shuddering breath, trying to calm himself. It was an hour before he calmed down enough to look for the echidna again, and by then Knuckles had vanished from radar. Mekion cursed his organic brain and its animal fear that interfered with his objectives.

center* * */center

Knuckles sat on the gleaming marble floor of the Hidden Palace, winding bandages around the scratches on his arms. He felt sick at his stomach over what he had seen. He had come face to face with the robot Shadow, who had run and fallen, and Knuckles had grabbed him. Knuckles had been shocked to find he was holding a warm flesh-and-blood arm. He had looked into the cyborg's mismatched eyes-one a black, expressionless thing with a red iris, and the other was a real eye, wide with fright and glazing with pain. The thing was terrified of him, and could not speak above a whisper. Had it possessed a whole voice, the cyborg would have been screaming. It said its name was Mekion and had gone berserk, fighting and squirming like an animal. Knuckles had let it go and watched it crash through the trees, scared out of its wits.

Now Knuckles was tending the wounds Mekion had given him. His worry and anger were now mixed with pity. The creature was an experiment gone wrong, and Knuckles found he did not want to hurt it. It had already suffered at the hands of whoever had created it. It did not know it was Shadow.

He finished bandaging his arm and rested his head in one hand for a moment. His life had just grown more complicated. Not only was his island in urgent need of moving, but Tails and Sonic needed babysitting in the mine, and he was trying to spend time with Zephyer, and now there was a freaky creature on the loose.

He shook his head and stood up, and went to the Master Emerald's pedestal. He gazed into it, letting its soft green glow calm him. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against its cool surface for a moment, gathering the nerve to go back into the cold and fly the island for the rest of the night. He tapped one hand on the big gem and said aloud, "Portable, please."

At once a tiny version of the Master Emerald appeared in his hand. "Thanks," he said. He knew the gem wasn't alive, but it was what supported his island, powered the teleporters and held the Chaos Emeralds in check, so it didn't hurt to be polite.

He pulled his jacket back on and headed for the teleporter, gem in hand. He had a long night ahead of him.

center* * */center

Metal Sonic sorted through the latest entries in his robot brain, and found chunks of empty space where Mekion's organic mind had been in control. He had completed one objective, Metal Sonic noticed. Not bad for only being on the Floating Island one day.

But that much organic control worried him. The overall ratio was 50%, which was ideal, but Mekion had interacted with a target. Metal Sonic did not care if Mekion interacted with targets or not, but he was worried that Mekion had no record of the event. Metal Sonic did not know what had happened during the interaction. All he knew was that for forty-eight seconds Mekion's mind had switched off, and it did not come back except to record that he was running away. Perhaps he had been hurt. After all, Knuckles disliked intruders.

Metal Sonic sorted through the data again, and was pondering it when Robo Knux slipped up behind him and said, "Boo."

"You are juvenile," said Metal Sonic without moving.

"And you're no fun," said Robo Knux, looking at the screen. "Oh look, logfiles. How's your baby been doing?" When Metal Sonic did not answer, Robo Knux scanned the log himself. "Looks like he's gonna go rogue on you."

"I can only conclude that some emotion interfered with his input mechanism," said Metal Sonic. "Perhaps fear or anger."

"I could kill him for you," said Robo Knux, his green eyes flashing yellow.

"Perhaps he is injured," Metal Sonic went on, ignoring the red robot. "That is sufficient reason for his organic side to take over."

"Or maybe he's just a failed unit and needs to be destroyed," said Robo Knux.

Metal Sonic's eyes glinted scarlet for an instant. "Not all things should be destroyed."

"That choice is left up to those with the power to destroy," said Robo Knux. "A weaker creature never wants to be destroyed, but it doesn't have much choice in the matter, does it?"

Metal Sonic looked at him. "You attempted to kill him once, and he survived."

"Only because you interfered." Robo Knux lifted one metal arm with the dagger-like claws glinting. "I could shred you into pieces right now, and you couldn't stop me."

Metal Sonic did not grace this threat with an answer.

Robo Knux lowered his claws, green eyes rippling with rapid thought. He turned and strolled out of the room as aimlessly as he could, but his network communication port was blocked. Metal Sonic knew he was leaving.

Metal Sonic's claws drummed on the console's surface once. Then he made his decision and opened the transmission line to Mekion. The cyborg deserved a warning.

center* * */center

When Sonic awoke the next morning, he was aware that something was different. He sat up in his sleeping bag and looked at Tails and Talon. Tails was asleep in a nearby sleeping bag, and Talon was lying in bed, eyes open, gazing out the window. It was before sunrise, and the sky was a young blue.

Sonic crawled out of his sleeping bag and picked up his shoes. Talon looked at him and whispered, "Good morning."

"Morning," Sonic replied, stepping over Tails and tiptoeing out of the room.

He went into the kitchen to find something to eat, and found Zephyer sitting at the kitchen table and eating a banana. "Hey Zeff," said Sonic, pulling on his sneakers. "What's for breakfast?"

She motioned to a large bowl of fruit in the middle of the table. The only thing in it Sonic recognized was a bunch of bananas-everything else looked tropical and alien. "Dates are pretty good," she said, indicating a cluster of small orange fruits. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Something's different," said Sonic. "Did it rain last night?"

"It's warmer," said Zephyer. "The island's been moving all night."

"Moving?" said Sonic in surprise. "You mean Knux has been driving all night?"

"Probably," said Zephyer, yawning.

Sonic stepped outside and discovered the air had a balmy, springtime feel to it. It thrilled him and made him want to run, but hunger drove him back inside. He returned to the kitchen table and eyed the fruit bowl. "So what are these things?"

"I don't know," said Zephyer. "Pick whatever smells good. That works for me."

Sonic picked up fruit after fruit and held it to his nose, but nothing smelled particularly appetizing. Finally he settled on a large oblong fruit with red and green skin. He bit into it and discovered the inside was orange and sweet as candy. "This is pretty good," he said with his mouth full. "Is it a mango?"

Zephyer shrugged. "You're asking me?"

"You hang out with Knux all the time and he hasn't showed you the food?" said Sonic, wiping juice off his chin. "Is he that much of an airhead?"

Zephyer looked down at her banana peel. "He doesn't know how much I don't know."

"I thought girlfriends told their guyfriends everything," said Sonic. "And what's this about not letting him near you?"

Zephyer's eyes flashed. "I should paddle Zinc for that."

"Well?" said Sonic, his green eyes innocent.

She motioned to herself. "I'm robotized from the neck down, Sonic. I'm a monstrosity. I don't want anyone to touch my metal and remember that. Especially not him."

"Yeah, you can't be derobotized, huh?" said Sonic, licking his fingers. "Too bad for you."

She glowered at him. "You don't know what it's like. I shouldn't-I shouldn't even be here-" She got up and faced the window.

Sonic watched her, aware that he had hurt her feelings and not sure how. "Sorry, Zeff."

"It's okay," she muttered. "I can't marry him, you know."

"How come?" Sonic had never dared to ask her about this, although it was a hot topic of conversation around Knothole.

She turned to face him, pain staring from her eyes. "Two reasons. First, a guardian and the mate of a guardian must be able to handle power emeralds. I can't." She held up her mechanical hands. "Second, I can't have children to continue the Guardian line. It's a lose-lose situation."

"Ouch," said Sonic, and noticed he had eaten his mango to the core.

"Ouch, yeah, understatement of the century," snarled Zephyer. "He's so glad to see me, you don't know what it's like-" She hurried out of the room.

Sonic watched her go. He felt sorry for her, but what could he do? She had become so emotional lately that he couldn't carry on a conversation with her. He wondered what Knuckles saw in her.

He washed mango juice off his hands, put on his gloves, and went outside into the strange, spring-like atmosphere. For January it was wonderful; Sonic felt as if he was on vacation at last. Then he thought of spending the day in the mine, and his stomach clenched. If he didn't go, they would know he was chickening out, but if he did go, then he would have to face tiny cramped tunnels and airless spaces ... Then he thought of Velocity and wondered if he ought to help Tails with his spot.

Sonic set off at an easy lope in a southerly direction to see where the island was going.

center* * */center

Knuckles was stiff with the cold and sitting in one position all night, his emerald-holding arm stretched southwards. From his vantagepoint on the topmost peak of the island he could see for miles in every direction. And best of all, nobody could sneak up on him.

He made the trip south every winter for the sake of his island, and his father had taught him to navigate by the stars. In the south was a constellation like a sailing ship, and every winter Knuckles imagined the ship was leading him to a better place. He knew all the constellations by name, and when he traveled north in the spring he was guided by Belliphon, the Hawk who circled the pole star and was doomed to never set. He had read all the mythology in the Sandopolis library, and during the lonely years of his childhood he made up stories about the gods and monsters of the sky.

All night long his thoughts wandered between Mekion and the southern ship until he dozed and the two mingled in his dreams. The mythology of the ship had it that the ship came for echidnas when they died, and they sailed away to Heaven on a blue crystal ship, piloted by a white echidna with a star on his forehead. In his dreams Knuckles saw Shadow spinning through space, as Sonic had described it, and be picked up by the ship and taken away...

He jerked awake and found it was dawn, and the stars were fading. His arms pained him where Mekion had clawed him, and he was ravenously hungry.

Knuckles lowered his arm, his joints creaking, and wished for a moment that he could Chaos Control like Sonic. He brushed aside this thought, thrust the Master Emerald miniature into his coat pocket, and leaped off the mountaintop in a glide.

He rode the balmy air, circled Marble Gardens, glanced at Sandopolis, and headed toward the western area where Chaotix Central was located. He wondered where Mekion was, and again felt a mixture of anger and pity. That creature was bad news, and Knuckles didn't know why he was here. Probably scouting for Hidden Palace, the way the Mecha-bots always did until chased off.

As he landed in his yard, Sonic appeared out of nowhere and dashed up to him. "Morning, Knux! Where are we?"

"A little north of Sapphire Bay," replied Knuckles. "Warm enough for you?"

"Not nearly," said Sonic, then noticed the bandages on the echidna's arms. "What happened to you?"

"Had a run-in with the new Mecha-bot," said Knuckles, scowling. "I tried to catch him and he ripped me up trying to escape."

"I take it he escaped," said Sonic.

"Yeah," said Knuckles, pushing past him. "I hope you haven't eaten everything."

"Oh, there's a few crumbs left that you can have," said Sonic. "So what did he look like? What number is he?"

"He said his name was Mekion," said Knuckles after a second's thought. "He's ... he's weird." He went indoors, and Sonic followed him.

The kitchen was empty and the house quiet. Knuckles grabbed a plate and piled it with several of each item from the bowl.

"Are those mangos?" Sonic asked, pointing to one similar to his breakfast earlier.

"Yeah," said Knuckles, biting into a lumpy yellow fruit.

"Cool," said Sonic. "So all this is edible?"

Knuckles gave him a sidelong look. "Would I bother picking it and putting it in here if it wasn't?"

"No," said Sonic. "So how is Mekion weird?"

Knuckles knew Sonic had a one-track mind, and allowed himself to chew and swallow before answering. "He looks like a biotic." Which was true-Mekion's robot half had the oily look of biometal. But Knuckles wasn't about to tell Sonic that Mekion was half-organic and a white hedgehog to boot.

Sonic blanched. "A biotic? But biotics can't run without Leviathan!"

"I said he looked like one," said Knuckles. "Maybe he was built with that technology."

Sonic paced in a circle around the kitchen, eyes on the floor, spines bristling. "If it's a biotic," he said at last, "then we'll have to hunt it down and destroy it. It's probably after me, you know. They always are."

Knuckles was caught off-balance by this reasoning. Of course biotics were dangerous-why had he told Sonic that? The truth was that Knuckles didn't know what to do about Mekion, but he didn't want to kill him. He ate two dates, then said, "I don't think he's that dangerous."

"Hah," said Sonic. "Check out your arms. Not dangerous, huh?"

Knuckles opened his mouth to reply that he had attacked first, then closed it. He was walking a fine line between hurting Sonic and destroying Mekion. So he remained silent and finished his breakfast. Sonic was growing excited, breathing fast and eyes brightening. "I haven't fought one of the Mecha-bots in months," he said. "Maybe I could find Mekion for you."

"NO!"

The word exploded out of Knuckles with such force that Sonic stared at him. "No?"

"He's too dangerous," said Knuckles lamely. "Don't look for him alone."

"You just said he wasn't that dangerous," said Sonic, studying the echidna as if he had never seen him before. "Are you trying to cover for him or something?"

"You've never seen him," said Knuckles, and left it at that. He rinsed his plate, put it away, and walked outside. Sonic followed him. "Knux-"

"I'm going to fly the island all day," Knuckles interrupted. "I'll check with you in the mine this evening." He jogged toward the teleporter, and Sonic gazed after him, brow furrowed in a frown.


	5. Snap

Mekion was curled in the fetal position in a hollow under the roots of a tree, safe from the reaches of daylight. His fright had left him feeling drained and inept. He planned to spend the day in hiding and only work on his objectives at night-perhaps photograph Sonic and Tails in their beds when they least suspected it. Sure, it was too easy, but he was in  
no mood to take any more risks.

Receiving transmission. Mekion's eyes opened. A transmission? He thought that radio silence was maintained during a mission. Curious, he opened his channel and received a message from his Master.

"Mecha-bot four is on his way with your destruction as his objective. Estimated arrival time: eight hours. Accomplish your objectives and reach the following coordinates before eight hours have elapsed."

Robo Knux. A survival test. At once Mekion was alert. If it were eight AM now, Robo Knux would arrive at 4 PM. Mekion had two objectives left, and had a 33% chance of completing them in time. He uncurled and lay in his lair for a moment, red eyes staring at nothing. He knew where Sonic and Tails slept, and he suspected they spent much of the day together. Therefore all he had to do was locate them. He did not want to be here when Robo Knux arrived.

For a second he wondered why his Master had warned him, when he did not receive warnings of survival tests. Then he brushed the detail aside. Had he possessed more experience, he might have realized that this was no mere survival test.

He crawled out of his shelter and set off for Chaotix Central, keeping to the trees whenever possible, his scans on full. The air was warmer today. Mekion didn't know what to make of it; his entire life had consisted of winter, and he took it for granted that the world was a cold, harsh place.

There were several life forms at Chaotix Central, but none of them were targets. Mekion hung around as long as he dared, then retreated into better cover up in the hills. The female squirrel in Knothole had said something about Knuckles making Sonic work. Therefore if he found Knuckles, he would find Sonic and Tails.

The downside to this reasoning was the sheer size of the Floating Island. Completely empty except for six year-round inhabitants, it had every kind of terrain and endless amounts of hiding places. Mekion wandered through the forests and hills for two hours without seeing a soul, eyes smarting in the sunlight.

By chance he picked up a fast-moving object on radar. He tracked it and realized it must be Sonic, because nothing else on the island ran so fast. "Except me," thought Mekion, then wondered where such a thought had come from. He ran after it, firing the jets in his feet to give himself extra speed. All the same he lost Sonic and did not catch up for three miles.

Mekion came upon Sonic at the entrance to a cave, and concealed himself behind some brush. Sonic was looking into the cave and panting ... no, hyperventilating. After a moment he sprinted into the cave, and Mekion followed him.

The tunnel walls were smooth flowstone, and Mekion hung back at first, realizing there was nowhere to hide if Sonic reversed directions. But Sonic proceeded in a straight line, following the main tunnel around bends and down flights of stairs. Tunnels and grottos opened on either side, some lit with green light, but Mekion had no time to investigate them. Sonic was traveling fast and Mekion was in danger of losing him.

After a mile of descending tunnels, Sonic entered a blue-lit gallery. Mekion crept to the edge of the entrance and peered in with his robot eye. The light came from crystals in the ceiling and walls, and he found it pleasant to his darkness-attuned eyes. Sonic was putting on goggles and a helmet. Mekion watched as Sonic walked to a low passage on the far wall and inhaled like a diver before entering deep water. Then he dropped to all fours and crawled into the passage.

Mekion remained where he was, wondering where the tunnel led and how he would follow Sonic now. In a tunnel that small he could not hide. He gazed around the interior of the cave and noticed buckets, hammers, shovels and pickaxes on the floor. There was also an ice chest in one corner. This cave was where the supplies were kept-therefore Sonic would return to it later.

He trained his audio sensors on the mineshaft and listened. He heard distant voices and the tapping of two hammers. Who else was in that shaft? Tails?

Suddenly he heard a whirring sound like a wheel on pavement. It grew louder, and Mekion ducked as Sonic exploded out of the mineshaft in a spindash. He hurtled through the blue cavern, out the entrance and struck the wall of the tunnel five feet from Mekion. Mekion flattened himself to the wall, but Sonic was blind with panic and tore up the tunnel, his ragged breathing echoing behind him.

"Sonic?" came a voice. "Sonic, are you okay?"

Mekion looked into the cavern and saw a fox wearing safety glasses peering out of the mine entrance. After a moment the fox crawled down the shaft again, and Mekion smiled. If the fox was alone in the tunnel and busy digging, then he could sneak up and photograph him.

He waited until he heard the distant tapping of Tails's hammer, then slipped forward and crawled into the tunnel, switching his robot eye to image capture mode. The warm darkness in the tunnel reminded him of home, somehow, and he liked it. But he disliked the noise his metal hand and knee made against the rock floor. It was the second complaint he had with his robot half, but he moved more gently and crawled on.

He saw light up ahead and paused to sweep the tunnel with radar. The fox was working in a small cavern with his back to the shaft. Perfect. Mekion crawled up to the edge of the cavern and peered in at Tails, who was hammering away at the wall. Mekion photographed him, timing the click of his shutter to the clink of Tails's blows. Then Mekion backed down the tunnel, pleased with the ease of his success. One objective left now: Sonic.

* * *

Zephyer was lying on the grass in the sun, reading a book. Below her ran a small stream, where Zinc, Chimera and Talon were playing with toy boats. The water was icy, but it did not stop them from playing in it and having imaginary adventures as their boats 'sailed the rapids'. Zephyer pretended to ignore them, but watched them now and then over her book-the lithe, thin anteater and the two fat, pudgy chao, who took turns being sea monsters that sank the boats.

After a while the three wandered downstream, following the current and their boats, and Zephyer was left alone with her book. It was a four hundred-page primer on Old Mobian that Knuckles had given her, and she was struggling through it. She should have brought her notebook to do the lessons, but she excused herself by thinking that she was only previewing the next chapter. She had to think so hard she felt like her brain was cramping, and it was a relief to look up when she heard approaching footsteps. To her surprise it was Knuckles, the Master Emerald miniature in one hand.

"There you are," he said. "Where're the chao?"

"Downstream with Talon," said Zephyer, sitting up and closing her book. "What are you doing here?"

Knuckles sat down beside her and held out the emerald, and she felt the island begin to move. "I can fly the island from wherever," he said. "Make any headway in the book?"

"Lesson five," said Zephyer. "I think my brain's melting."

"Hey, I read your little account about Diamonda," said Knuckles. "You owe me."

"You're going to have to read Tyther's History of Mobius to pay me for reading this," said Zephyer. "So what'd you want?"

Knuckles gazed at the emerald in his hand for a moment. "I have a dilemma."

Zephyer raised her eyebrows and waited for him to go on.

"I met our resident Mecha-bot last night," he said, indicating the bandages on his arms. "He's Shadow, but he doesn't know he's Shadow. Half of him is robot. I grabbed him by his real arm, and it scared me because it was alive."

Zephyer blinked. "So Shadow IS alive?"

"Yeah," said Knuckles heavily. "That's not even the bad part. This morning Sonic chased me down and asked me about my arms. You know how nosy he is. I told him there was a robot like a biotic on the loose. Get this. He wants to hunt it down and destroy it. I tried to tell him not to, but I couldn't give him a reason why." He looked at her. "So what do I do?"

Zephyer gazed at the stream, thinking. "We can't tell Sonic that it's Shadow because he'll go off the deep end. But we don't want Sonic going after Shadow, and we don't want to kill Shadow, either."

"Exactly," said Knuckles.

There was a moment of silence, and the echidnas watched the glowing Master Emerald in Knuckles's hand. "Well," said Zephyer slowly, "we either capture Shadow-or we tell Sonic." She looked at Knuckles. "What if Sonic went after him? If Shadow is a robot now, he'll look different."

"I recognized him, and I'd only seen him once," said Knuckles. "I'm sure Sonic would recognize him."

There was another long pause.

"Sonic will find out about him someday," said Zephyer. "What harm would it do?"

"And have Sonic deal with an amnesiac who is working for our enemies?" said Knuckles. "It'd devastate him. I saw what he went through over Twilight. I don't want him to get hurt again."

"Don't you think you're being overprotective?"

"Zeff, you don't understand. I had Shadow here in my hands, and it rattled me. Me! And I only saw him once! He's a monster now, and just seeing him is going to tear Sonic apart."

Zephyer rested her head in one hand, unconsciously copying Knuckles's hopeless gesture of the night before. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know," Knuckles sighed. "I wish I knew where Shadow was, so I could run him off before Sonic does."

* * *

Mekion emerged from underground to find it was noon and the hated sun was at its height. He wished he could crawl into the shade somewhere and sleep, but four of his eight hours had passed, and he had to locate Sonic before Robo Knux arrived. He could complete his mission if he missed the deadline, but it would be difficult with Robo Knux hunting him.

As he set off to of Chaotix Central in search of Sonic, another problem reared its head. He had not eaten in two days. He would have to raid the home of his targets to feed himself, and he would have to do it in daylight. He cringed. What if he met Knuckles again? What if he was unable to escape? His robot brain chided him for feeling fear, and assured him that all he had to do was kill Knuckles if the echidna threatened him. His organic mind recoiled in horror at this. He didn't think he could kill someone. Then he looked at the claws on his left hand, and realized that yes, he could.

He investigated Chaotix Central, and his scans revealed that everyone was inside, eating lunch. Everyone except Sonic. He swept the house with the most precise scanner he possessed. There were two echidnas, two chao, an anteater, a chameleon, a crocodile, an armadillo, and an oversized bee. No fox and no hedgehog. Tails was accounted for-so where was Sonic?

Mekion looked at the tree-clad hills and the mountains rising in the middle distance. Sonic could be anywhere. Disheartened, Mekion checked his odds of finding Sonic in the four hours left, and discovered his chances were one in ten thousand. But there was nothing for it-Mekion had to look for him. The black and white cyborg entered the trees and began to search, his scans set to their widest sweep.

An hour slipped by, then another. Mekion kept tabs on his internal clock as he roamed. He was running out of time.

At four in the afternoon he began checking for the signature trail of Robo Knux on his radar. To his surprise there was none. Five o' clock came and went. Then six. No sign of Sonic or Robo Knux. Mekion did not know that the Floating Island's movement had thrown off Metal Sonic's calculations, or that Robo Knux was pursuing the island and cursing the tailwind that was carrying it south.

At six thirty Mekion discovered Tails walking down from the mine, carrying a bucketful of rocks and whistling. Mekion followed him, hoping that Sonic would appear, but he did not. Mekion followed Tails all the way to Knuckles's house, then returned to searching, hating his hunger and his inability to locate his target.

* * *

Mekion wasn't the only one wondering about Sonic's whereabouts. As Tails helped himself to the fried vegetable-and-meat dish that Mighty and Espio had whipped up for dinner, he called, "Anybody seen Sonic?"

"Nope!" came a chorus of replies from throughout the house.

"All day?" said Tails, picking out the meat and eating it first.

"Not since this morning," said Knuckles, entering the room. "He wasn't with you?"

"He left this morning," said Tails. "I think-I think being underground freaked him out, because all of a sudden he took off without a word."

"Aw geez," said Knuckles, slapping his forehead. "The dope's probably claustrophobic and too proud to admit it. And he didn't come back?"

"No. Do you think he's okay?"

Knuckles gazed at the fox, thinking of Sonic wandering the island and perhaps bumping into Mekion. "He's probably okay, but if he's not here by nine then I'm going looking for him." Knuckles glanced into the next room and noticed Zephyer was watching him. At least one person shared this problem with him.

* * *

There were many places on the Floating Island that offered solitude, and Sonic had found one of them. High on the north end of the island was a series of broken, rocky cliffs riddled with caves and springs. Moss abounded, and so did ancient engravings by the echidna clan.

Sonic claimed one of these old rooms as his own and sat outside it in the sun, gazing at the horizon. Today he had snapped, and he didn't know if he could face his friends again. He had tried running hard before going underground. But as soon as he entered the main tunnel he felt as if he was smothering, and the feeling intensified the further he went. He had managed to ignore it until he was in the tiny shaft with Tails ... then he had started thinking about the millions of tons of rock above his head ... and suddenly he had to get out.

He hadn't stopped running until he had circled the island and reached the northern end, a harsh, lonely area. He spent the day exploring among the rocks, ignoring his stomach at lunch and dinner. He couldn't go back and admit he had chickened out. Not after Knuckles had been so kind, and Tails was finding good stuff. If Tails didn't mind being underground, why did he?

"You're getting old, Sonic," he told himself savagely. "Twenty-two is positively ancient compared to Tails." The four years difference in their ages seemed like a century.

When it came down to it Sonic had no excuse. He just had an irrational fear of closed-in spaces. They reminded him of a trap or a cave, neither of which he could tolerate. What he needed was a way to save the day, something to make them overlook his wimpiness. Like hunting down Mekion the biotic. He felt ready for a fight against a robot. He hadn't had one in ages. The nerve, a robot sneaking onto the island!

It was dark by this time, for the sun set at seven and it was nearly seven-thirty. Sonic sat on his ledge and stared at the horizon, plotting ways to heal his wounded pride, when he noticed a light against the ocean. He thought it was a boat until it became brighter and closer. He straightened. That light was moving too fast for a boat. Then he identified it and leaped to his feet with an oath. That was one of the Mecha-bots, and they were extremely dangerous. But dangerous or not, Sonic had discovered a way to salvage his self-image.

Sonic bounded off the rocks as Robo Knux arrived on the Floating Island.


	6. The hunt

Mekion froze and lifted his head. He was on the hillside above Chaotix Central, watching the house in hopes that Sonic would return on his own. But suddenly his network was alive with trace signals. He consulted his radar and found Robo Knux's trail signature cutting across the island toward him. The survival test had begun.

First Mekion shut off his network hardware. He did not want to be traced, and if he used his powerful network scanner Robo Knux would pinpoint his location. Then he moved across the hills, watching for movement on the edges of his radar. If he couldn't detect Robo Knux, then Robo Knux couldn't detect him. He wished he had eaten something before Robo Knux arrived; his performance level was low.

To Mekion's chagrin, Sonic flashed down the trail Mekion had just been watching, and entered the house. He had been so close! If only he had stuck to his post one more minute! Oh well, there was nothing for it-self-preservation was the Third Law, and it took precedence over the mission.

As Mekion pushed deeper into the woods, seeking the thickest cover, Sonic burst into the house and yelled, "Robo Knux is here!"

Everyone looked up with a start. Knuckles jumped to his feet. "Robo Knux? You're sure?"

"Not totally," said Sonic. "All I saw was the light from his jets, but Metal Sonic's jet looks different."

Knuckles swore in Old Mobian and looked at Chimera, Zinc, Talon and Zephyer-four people whom he had to protect at all costs. Then he looked at the Chaotix, all of whom looked excited. "Guys, we can't stay here. Get your stuff, we're moving somewhere a robot can't go."

A flurry of activity erupted around him, and Knuckles stood in the midst of it, thinking of every secret cave and room on the island and trying to decide which was the closest and easiest to defend. Robo Knux was strong and had a fetish for large, deadly weapons. The place that came to mind the quickest was Hidden Palace, but there were no supplies there, and leaving Chimera and Zinc with the Super Emeralds was a bad idea. But underground they must go, and he thought of the salt cave. It was half a mile from Chaotix Central, had a narrow, defendable entrance, and had exits into the tunnel labyrinth in the heart of the island. Robo Knux could go underground and come up on them from within the tunnels, but it would take him two hours of hiking through winding passages, and by then they would have wind of him.

Sonic appeared at Knuckles's elbow with his backpack slung over one shoulder. "Knux," he said, "are we going underground?"

"Probably," said Knuckles. "The caves are the safest place I can think of."

"I can't go," said Sonic, a crazy light in his eyes. "I can't go back in a cave. Let me track Robo Knux for you."

"Who said anything about putting you underground?" said Knuckles. "I've got a girl, two chao and at least one kid to protect. Do you want to stow Tails away or have him help us?"

The relief on Sonic's face was replaced by worry. "Tails hasn't been around Robo Knux much ... maybe he should go with them and oversee defense. Yeah."

Knuckles watched his friends without seeing them. "What's Robo Knux doing here, anyway? Nobody's seen him since the thing with Leviathan."

"Maybe Mekion called for backup," said Sonic.

Knuckles's thoughts flew to the look of terror on Mekion's face. Backup, of course, call in big brother. "They're working together," he muttered.

"Robo Knux probably built Mekion," said Sonic. "But that's okay. I can fight both of them. Maybe this time I'll get a chance to shred RK."

"And he'll get a chance to shred you," said Knuckles. "Glad you're back, by the way."

Sonic smiled sheepishly.

Ten minutes later the little troop set out into the night, armed with flashlights, clubs, guns, and magnets. Knuckles had a large collection of magnets saved for just such an occasion, and everyone carried three with instructions to throw them at Robo Knux or Mekion if either appeared. But the night was quiet with a steady breeze from the north. Knuckles sniffed the air and worried about his island. He was still too far north, and these temperatures would kill the trees. Blast those interfering robots!

They arrived at the salt cave without incident. The entrance was a narrow fissure in the rock, and once a person squeezed inside they found themself in a glittering cavern of white crystals and powdery sand. It was perfectly dry, and crates of food supplies were stacked along the walls. A tunnel at the back led deeper underground.

Sonic refused to enter the cave, and stayed outside with the Chaotix to stand guard. But Knuckles, Zephyer, Talon, Tails, and the chao entered and shone their flashlights around at the flashing crystals. Knuckles showed them the stone slabs that could be rolled into position to cover the entrance and exits, and as the youngsters explored the cavern, Knuckles took Zephyer aside.

He clasped her cold mechanical hands in his own and peered into her face, gathering the courage to ask her to do something important. She looked at him steadily. "I hope you're not going to propose again, because the answer is still no."

He chuckled. "No, it's not that. Zephyer ... the island has to keep moving south or these temperatures will kill it. I need you to try to use the Master Emerald for me."

She stared at him. "But it'll fry me. You know what power emeralds do to machinery."

"I wrapped it up," he said, reaching into the knapsack he had carried. He pulled out the Master Emerald miniature, which glowed a muted green through a handkerchief. "I can still use it through this," he said. "Here, take it. It shouldn't hurt you."

Zephyer hesitated, then held out her hands. Knuckles placed the emerald in her hands, and she flinched. He caught her elbow. "You okay?"

"Yes," she panted. "I thought it would shock me." She gazed at the emerald in her robot hands, and to Knuckles's surprise, her eyes filled with tears. "I'm touching the Master Emerald," she whispered. "And I can-I can feel it! Which way is south?" Knuckles pointed, and Zephyer faced that direction and extended one arm with the emerald. The two echidnas felt the island move.

Zephyer laughed and wiped her eyes. "It knows me, Knuckles! I'm an echidna! I can do this!" She looked at him, her eyes bright with unbridled hope.

Knuckles felt a surge of love twist his heart, and suddenly there was a lump in his throat. Only a guardian and the mate of a guardian could command the Master Emerald, and he knew Zephyer had lost all hope of using a power gem. But for one wild instant she dared to hope, and it transformed her.

He left her standing with the emerald in hand, gave instructions for Tails and Talon to barricade the entrance, and left the cave. A flood of emotions had upset his levelheaded cool, and he was struggling to get a grip on reality. He had to go out and hunt for robots, but his heart was back in the cave with Zephyer. There was irony in the fact that the Master Emerald had matched them up. He had to persuade her to marry him somehow. If she didn't ... the alternative left him sick with horror. She was linked to the island whether she liked it or not, and if she fell into Robotnik's hands, that link could be twisted into destroying the island and everything on it. This was the reason Knuckles's father lived in hiding, because he knew things that must not fall into the wrong hands. No, Knuckles had to marry Zephyer if only to protect her from herself.

"You're awful quiet, boss," said Vector the crocodile. The group had been walking in silence for ten minutes, and Knuckles was so deep in thought he had not noticed. He roused himself and looked around. "What? Oh yeah. We need to split up and start circling Chaotix Central. Spiral outward. Sonic, you go with Charmy and Mighty. Espio and Vector, come with me."

Issuing commands brought him back to earth, and he focused on the dark masses of trees and rocks around them, straining his senses for a hostile presence. He shut down the part of himself that was boiling with emotions. He didn't need that now-everyone on the island was depending on him, and what good were strong feelings when Robo Knux might jump him any minute?

They walked without speaking, only using their lights when they were unsure of their footing. Espio the chameleon changed his skin to blend with the darkness and roamed ahead and to either side, scouting for danger.

Hours slipped by. The island floated south, and Knuckles found no sign of Mekion or Robo Knux. Odd. The Mecha-bots possessed state-of-the-art scanning technology. Even if the islanders were unable to find them, the robots could find the islanders. But this was Robo Knux they were dealing with. Robo Knux's motives were always evolving according to his present humor, and if he had come for a fight, they should have seen him before now. Of course, Sonic could have been mistaken, but Knuckles trusted Sonic to recognize the Mechas when he saw them. Sonic had dealt with them dozens of times.

At midnight a weary Knuckles led his two companions back to the salt cave entrance, and found Sonic, Mighty and Charmy waiting for him. "Nothing," said Sonic, spines drooping. "Except-well, it's kind of funny, but somebody broke into your house, ate all the leftovers, and cleaned up the kitchen."

Knuckles laughed out loud. It was late and he was loopy from the stress of the past few hours. "Vector, what have I told you about midnight snacks?"

The six of them burst out laughing. It wasn't funny, but in their current state they were ready to laugh at anything.

There was a scraping sound from inside the cave entrance, and Tails's voice said, "Guys, is that you? Why are you making so much noise?"

"We're scaring away the robots," said Sonic, and the group roared with laughter. One by one they squeezed into the cave, still chuckling, and grabbed sleeping bags from a pile in the corner.

Knuckles found Zephyer where he had left her. She was stretched out on the floor, sound asleep, her emerald-holding hand still extended south. Knuckles threw a sleeping bag over her and dared to kiss her forehead as he took the emerald from her hand. Then he crawled into his own sleeping bag, held his arm south the way Zephyer had done, and fell asleep that way.

* * *

Robo Knux had detected Mekion's presence as soon as he reached the island, and flew straight toward his location without landing. To his surprise, Mekion went offline. How could he do that? Network hardware was essential to operation! Well, if he was offline, he must be lying on the ground somewhere.

Robo Knux arrived at Mekion's last charted location and landed on all fours, scans sweeping the area. It was a rocky hillside dotted with trees. No cover, and no Mekion. Of course! Mekion was half-organic. Shutting down parts of his robot half would not impair his functions. For a moment the red robot crouched among the rocks like a green-eyed wasp, rethinking his strategy. Mekion had been trained in stealth, so he knew every trick to staying undercover. He might also have some of those Zen-like instruments that Robo Knux had heard about ... 'instincts'. He lifted his head and looked at the hilly landscape around him. Mekion could be anywhere.

"So, hide and seek is the game of the evening," Robo Knux muttered aloud. "All right. I'll play. Because I'll win in the end." He stood and walked across the hillside, instruments on full power, his mood becoming calm excitement. This was more entertaining than hanging around the lab. By killing Mekion he would annoy Metal Sonic, which was the point.

As the night went on Robo Knux crept up on both sets of Mobians, checking to see if Mekion was among them. He would have loved to play with the Mobians, stalking them through the darkness, but he wanted to find Mekion more. As the hours passed and the night grew old, Robo Knux realized that Mekion was good at concealing himself. But Mekion could not hide forever-his organic half would drive him into the open to eat or drink, and Robo Knux would find him.

Mekion knew this, but didn't care. He kept low, sometimes crawling on his belly through leaves and brush, once in a while pausing to check Robo Knux's position. He could see the robot across the valley by zooming in his mechanical eye. Stupid Robo Knux, he left his eye-lights on. Mekion tracked him visually, keeping a mile and a half between them, just outside the range of a scanner. When Robo Knux moved, Mekion moved, and when Robo Knux stopped, Mekion stopped.

After a while Robo Knux moved further up the hills, and Mekion followed him. Chaotix Central lay across his path, and it was too big of a temptation to pass up. He entered the house, ate whatever smelled good, tidied up his mess, and resumed tracking Robo Knux, feeling much better for the food.

As morning neared, Mekion began looking for a place to sleep that his enemy could not reach. He remembered the crevice in the rocks where he had hidden from the robot during training, and kept an eye out for something similar. He needed a place where a ranged weapon couldn't reach him. Something like a cave with a narrow entrance.

He found one at the foot of a low cliff. The entrance was so narrow he had to exhale to squeeze in, and it opened up in a little alcove. The entrance narrowed fifteen feet above to a crack, which meant he was protected from above. Satisfied that his hiding place was secure, he curled into a ball against the rear wall and was asleep at once, for his organic side was tired and full of food.

* * *

Sonic awoke in pitch darkness and wondered where he was. He rolled over, and his movement echoed enough to remind him that he was in the salt cave. He felt a rush of panic at the idea of being underground, but fought it back and checked his watch. Its phosphorescent hands informed him that it was nine o'clock. "Nine what?" he wondered. Morning? Evening? In the timeless darkness he couldn't tell. After thinking a moment he decided that it must be morning, because he didn't think he had slept twenty-one hours.

He sat up, felt around for his flashlight, and flicked it on. Blinking in the sudden glare, he saw everyone distributed around the floor in dark lumps against the white floor. The lump that was Knuckles had a green glowing thing clutched in his fist. He even looked after the Master Emerald while asleep! Now that was devotion.

Sonic pointed his light at the ceiling and glanced at the crystals above his head. They looked closer than he remembered. In fact, the whole cave was smaller than he remembered. And it was hard to breathe-

He needed to get out. Now.

Pausing only long enough to buckle on his shoes, Sonic hurried to the slab that blocked the cave entrance and heaved on the rope that rolled it aside. It usually took two people to do this, but Sonic was so frantic that he managed it alone. A shaft of daylight streamed into the cavern with a rush of spring-like fresh air. Sonic knotted the rope around its hook and ran for the entrance-

He stopped dead.

Curled up in the cave entrance was a black and white spiny ball. Sonic stared at it, claustrophobia forgotten. It moved as it breathed, and he realized it was a hedgehog, half robot, half real. Its fur and spines were dirty white, and its robot hull was painted dull black. It had to be Mekion, who Knuckles acted so weird about.

Sonic watched him, wondering what to do. Poke the guy and wake him up? Throw a rock at him? What if he came into the cave and attacked everybody? He saw why Knuckles didn't want to hurt him. How did you smash up a robot that was alive?

As Sonic looked at him, he gradually noticed other things. The rumpled, careless look of the white fur, as if Mekion didn't know how to groom himself. The way his head spines twisted outward in unruly masses, and the faint orange stripes along their tops like a bleached-out stain. The horrendous scar around his wrist ... wait a second ...

Sonic shook his head. White spines that once had red markings on them ... a scarred wrist ... his back was to Sonic, but Sonic could see part of his face. It was wretchedly thin, but his eye was the right shape, and-

Sonic tiptoed closer without realizing he was moving. He had to see Mekion's face to make sure. He had to know. If this was Shadow-if it was-all the parts fit-Gingerly, cautiously, he leaned over the sleeping android.

Mekion's eyes opened, and for an instant the two hedgehogs were nose to nose.

Then Mekion exploded, knocking Sonic against the wall and fleeing into the open. Sonic jumped up and tore after him, yelling, "Shadow! Shadow, come back!"

* * *

Mekion had awakened with the unpleasant sensation of being watched-and there stood Sonic, close enough to grab him. Mekion lashed out and was running before he realized what had happened. Horrors! Sonic was pursuing him and catching up. Frightened and disoriented, he turned to his robot mind for help, which screamed, "Hide!"

Another part of his mental hardware went crazy with trace signals. His network hardware had come on with the rest of his equipment, and Robo Knux had spotted him. A transmission arrived. "Olli olli oxen-free." He shut down his hardware, but it was too late. He was caught in the open, in daylight, with Sonic and Robo Knux converging on him. They would reach him at the same time. So much for stealth-he would have to fight.

He crouched beside a boulder, robot-side out, claws ready. They were pitiful weapons against opponents such as Sonic and Robo Knux, but they were all he had. He was made for stealth, not fighting.

They came at him at the same time, and he turned to face Robo Knux, sensing that Robo Knux would do him the most damage. At the last second he ducked and the robot flew over him, claws raking at Mekion's spines. His momentum carried him past Mekion, and as he slowed and turned around, Sonic arrived and looked from Mekion to Robo Knux and back. "Shadow!" he said.

Then Robo Knux hit Mekion in the ribs with a mace-like fist. His speed crushed Mekion against the boulder, and Robo Knux held him there, forcing his claws through Mekion's metal skin and into his machinery, trying to puncture his internal organs.

Sonic hit Robo Knux in a spindash that knocked the red robot ten feet and left his right arm hanging by a few wires. "Leave Shadow alone!" Sonic screamed idiotically, backing up to spindash again.

Robo Knux jumped to his feet and roared away, jets spluttering. "He works for us now!" he flung over his shoulder.

Sonic chased him into the trees, then returned to Mekion. The cyborg was kneeling beside the boulder, one hand pressed to the holes in his robot side. As Sonic approached Mekion crouched and curled his robot fingers into claws, baring his teeth.

Sonic stopped. "Whoa Shadow, I'm not gonna hurt you. Are you okay?"

Mekion didn't answer or relax. A clear fluid was trickling from the holes in his side.

"I'm your friend," said Sonic. "Don't you remember the ARK and Nox and everything?"

Mekion watched him, his face expressionless. Sonic stepped forward, and Mekion drew back his claws threateningly.

Sonic stopped. "Look Mekion, your name was Shadow before they made you into a robot. Remember the Ultimate Lifeform stuff and Chaos Control? Talk to me, man!"

"Get away, enemy," whispered Mekion.

Sonic's ears flattened. He lowered his head and retreated twenty feet, and Mekion limped past him into the trees. Sonic made no move to follow him.


	7. Information

Mekion walked until he could walk no further, then collapsed under the arching fronds of a large fern. He was not in pain, for it was his robot side that had been damaged, but alerts and warnings danced through his robot brain.

He had to stop the fluid leaking from the holes so his biometal could regenerate. He tried covering them with his fingers, but it leaked through them. Then almost instinctively, he took a handful of leaves and earth and smeared it on his side. The 'bleeding' slowed and hardened into a plastic-like substance. Mekion lay on his side and rested, not thinking or scanning, just staring at nothing, as if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

His sleep had been interrupted, then he had experienced several minutes of pure adrenaline, and now he was tired. Even his robot half was 'tired', for it had diverted all system resources into rebuilding the damaged machinery. Had Robo Knux happened across Mekion at that moment, he could have destroyed him without Mekion offering any resistence.

Slowly his organic mind worked up to facing the things Sonic had said. His name was Shadow. Sonic was his friend. He searched his databanks for evidence of this, but there were no records from before his activation. Of course, his organic side had to come from somewhere. Why had he not thought of that before? So his robot side was Mekion and his organic side was Shadow. He smiled at the idiocy of it. But Metal Sonic was still his Master, and his mission was still to photograph Sonic at close quarters without being seen.

Another thought worked its way to the surface. Sonic had saved him from Robo Knux's claws. Why had Sonic done that? He replayed the event and considered everything Sonic had said. Ah ha. Sonic had said, "Leave Shadow alone." Sonic had interfered before Robo Knux could damage Mekion's organic side. The organic side had been Sonic's friend. Still, he supposed he owed Sonic a favor now, since Sonic had prevented Robo Knux from doing more damage.

He wanted to sleep, but he needed better shelter than a few fern fronds. He looked around. He had come to a low, marshy area where mushrooms grew everywhere, some the size of trees. There was a moldy, damp odor. From his position he looked around the area, seeking a dry spot. Everywhere was tall grass and mushrooms; he was lying on the last bit of high ground in Mushroom Hill. He checked his radar, which told him there were no Mobians for a mile and a half. Good enough for fifteen minutes at least. He rested his head on his arms and went to sleep as his biometal healed itself.

* * *

Sonic's shouts upon recognizing Mekion had awakened everyone in the salt cave. Knuckles jumped up, bleary-eyed and horrified that Sonic had seen Mekion. "Don't start the day this way, this is all I need ..."

Tails was out the door after Sonic, and Knuckles followed him as far as the entrance. It could be a plot to lure the defenders from the cave, so Knuckles stood inside the entrance, watching for danger and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What happened?" Espio asked behind him. "Why was Sonic yelling?"

"I think Mekion was trying to get in," said Knuckles. "Ugh, now the cat's out of the bag."

"Huh?" said Espio.

Knuckles looked at the chameleon to see that Espio was so sleepy his default purple was hot pink instead. "Mekion is Shadow. He's half-robot now."

A shocked murmur ran around the cave as the sleepy Chaotix tried to wrap their brains around this revelation. "But isn't Shadow dead?" said Mighty.

"No, he's alive and we saw him," said Chimera. The chao clawed his way out of Knuckles's sleeping bag. "Didn't we, Zinc? We knew who he was because of his smell."

"Whoa," said Vector. "That's really heavy. Think he'll remember Sonic?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," said Knuckles. "Now that Sonic knows, I don't know what will happen."

A few minutes later Tails returned, leading Sonic. The hedgehog walked with his head down, every movement spelling dejection. "Are you all right?" Knuckles called.

"Yeah," Tails called back.

Sonic refused to enter the cave and sat outside in the morning light, head in his hands. Tails entered the cave, eyes wide. "Robo Knux attacked Mekion."

"What?" Knuckles stared at him. "What do you mean, attacked him?"

"Ran at him and stabbed him with his claws," said the fox. "Sonic jumped Robo Knux and ran him off, then Mekion acted like he wanted to fight Sonic, too. Sonic let him go."

"How's Sonic?"

Tails glanced at the still figure outside. "He hasn't said anything since I got there."

Knuckles looked at Sonic and sighed. "Leave him alone. He's had a shock."

Robo Knux had attacked Mekion! They couldn't be working together. Had Sonic damaged Robo Knux? Had Sonic spoke to Mekion? Was Mekion hurt? Knuckles wanted to ask, but he left Sonic alone and attended to more mundane things, like rolling up sleeping bags and opening up a box of food for breakfast. Zephyer helped him, and he was glad to have her near.

After a while she looked at him and murmured, "Do you think I could, maybe, use the Master Emerald again today?"

"You liked your taste of power, huh?" he smiled.

She nodded, eyes shining. "I've felt it before, but it always shocked me. This time it didn't." Then, changing subjects so fast it made his head spin, she went on, "Sonic looks awful. Maybe we should have told him about Shadow after all."

"I don't know," said Knuckles. "I'm out of my depth on this one."

"Trust me on this," said Zephyer. "You should have told him."

After getting breakfast for everyone else, Knuckles ventured out to Sonic. "You want anything?"

"No," said Sonic. Then he looked up, eyes blazing. "Why didn't you tell me he was Shadow?"

"I didn't ... didn't want you to get hurt," said Knuckles.

"And that was supposed to help me?" said Sonic. "Shadow's alive, and you don't tell me! What's with you and being all secretive? So he's a Mecha-bot now, big deal. You know Robo Knux was trying to kill him? He can't be all bad."

"I ..."

"Yeah, you think you can boss me around and run my life. Well, guess what, you can't!"

Knuckles bristled at Sonic's tone, but felt Zephyer's hand on his shoulder, and kept quiet.

Sonic turned on her. "And what about you? You knew too, didn't you?"

"I take it Shadow didn't recognize you," she said coolly.

"No!" exclaimed Sonic, voice cracking. "He didn't!"

"Then it doesn't make any different whether you knew about him or not," said Zephyer.

"But you should have told me!" Sonic's face worked as if he was holding back tears, then he jumped to his feet and ran into the woods.

Knuckles started after him, but Zephyer held him back. "He'll be okay, Knux."

"But Robo Knux!"

She gave him a sarcastic look. "I don't you'd be a match for Sonic when he's like this, so what makes you think a robot would?"

He exhaled and returned to the cave. He hated this situation, he hated it!

* * *

"Mekion ... oh Mekion ... Guess what! Your network hardware is on!"

The cyborg's head jerked up, spines standing up along his back. He was still lying under the green canopy of the fern, and crickets chirped all around. The air was still and warm. He sent a panicked scan around the area and found he was alone. Then he did a radar sweep and discovered Robo Knux was out of range. Why was he not attacking?

"Caught you napping, didn't I?" said Robo Knux though the voice transmission link. "Too bad your systems come online as soon as you wake up."

"Why aren't you hunting me?" Mekion whispered. He pushed the fronds back and gazed at the mushroom swamp, thinking of hiding spots and cover. However, if he could keep his enemy talking he might discover some way of foiling him.

"I am hunting you," said Robo Knux. "Just not at the moment. I am damaged, you see. By the way, are you dying? I hope you are."

Mekion checked the holes in his side. His black metal was plastered with a hard clear substance, and the holes were no longer leaking. His systems were running at half power, but the internal damage was sealed and 22% regenerated. But there was no reason to tell Robo Knux that. He remained silent, and Robo Knux laughed, the word 'ha' repeated at various frequencies.

"So I hurt you badly, then! I'm considering adding diamond tips to my claws. They'd do even more damage then."

Mekion did not answer.

"I know you're listening," said Robo Knux. "Your network hardware is still on. Why not talk to me and make my repair-time a little more fun?"

Mekion considered, and remembered with uneasiness that Sonic had mentioned Nox. "Who was Nox?" he asked.

A note of evil glee crept into Robo Knux's voice. "You don't remember him, do you?" Mekion kept quiet, and Robo Knux went on, "Ahh, the bliss of psychologically harming someone! Just be sure to tell your Master that you asked."

Mekion said nothing, knowing that Robo Knux was so egotistical that nothing would shut him up now.

"Okay," said Robo Knux. "This is Nox. He was your chao." He beamed Mekion three screen-stills of a black hedgehog-chao with orange stripes on its spines. In one of the images was a black hedgehog holding the chao. "Oh, that's how you used to look," Robo Knux added. "Remember anything yet?"

"No," said Mekion, copying the images to his databanks to review later.

"You will," said Robo Knux. He proceeded to relate the story with the ARK and Shadow's past doings, which the Mecha-bots had pieced together from news articles and Robotnik's records. Robo Knux was sketchy about what had happened at the last moment, when a Chaos Control had saved the ARK, but he concluded with satisfaction, "All we know is that you died. You were stone-dead when that chao turned into a phoenix and grabbed you. He carried you back to Mobius. Here's some snapshots." He relayed several images of a fireball falling from the afternoon sky, a trail of smoke in its wake.

"Mecha saw you fall, he took these pictures. He ran to the point of impact, and there he found..." Robo Knux paused dramatically, then beamed a high-resolution image of a white hedgehog in a crater with a huge golden bird crouched over him. "That bird was your faithful chao, Nox," said Robo Knux. "He was dying in this picture. Here's another."

Another image, this time the bird's golden feathers were gray, and the sprawled figure of the white hedgehog had a golden aura around it.

"Then your chao turned back into a chao, and he was dead. But you were alive."

Another image of the white hedgehog with the black chao in his arms, tears streaming down his face, looking into the camera with a destitute expression.

"Metal Sonic liked you, I guess. He brought you back to his base and made you into Mekion."

Mekion listened to the story and looked at the pictures, but they aroused no feelings within him. It might have all happened to someone else. At least he knew who Nox was. He reviewed the images of the black chao, and felt a mild touch, again, of something mortal and near to his heart, an echo of the hedgehog he had once been. "Thank you for the information," he said.

"Are you psychologically damaged?" asked Robo Knux eagerly. "In tears, perhaps?"

Mekion didn't answer.

"Ah, probably crying," said Robo Knux in satisfaction. "Metal Sonic will be so peeved at me. Here's a tip, Mekion. Always include duct tape in a repair kit. My arm's as good as new."

At once Mekion shut off his network equipment. The respite was over, and it was time to resume the survival test. At least now he possessed information on what had happened to him before his activation date. He slipped out of the fern and glided down into the marsh among the mushrooms.

* * *

Sonic stood on the top of a hill, gazing north into the eye of the wind that continued to push the island onward. It dried the tears on his face and ruffled his fur, and he faced it as if it were an enemy. He was hurt and angry-angry at Knuckles for concealing Shadow, angry at Zephyer for siding with Knuckles, angry at himself for being so weak as to cry, and angry at Mekion for being Mekion and not Shadow.

Deep down he knew that everything Knuckles had done had been in Sonic's best interest, but that did not stop him from resenting it. Blast Knuckles for caring so much! Shadow, why did you have to come back as a mind-wiped slave?

Conflicting with this was a strangling joy. Sonic knew Shadow was alive, he had felt it, known it! Shadow had to be in there somewhere, deep down. Metal Sonic and Robo Knux were not neuro-surgeons-they might plug stuff into a brain, but they wouldn't tamper with the brain itself. Shadow was still there, buried under the ferocious exterior.

Sonic wiped his face and sniffed. He would show Knuckles-he would find Mekion and make him remember, somehow. He turned in a circle, surveying the island from his hilltop, and wishing he could home in on Mekion the way Knuckles could the Master Emerald. The sky and ocean were blue for as far as the eye could see, except for a line of white clouds on the eastern horizon. The air was mild, the sun warm on his head. This was the climate the island liked.

He plunged down the hill, through a stand of trees, skirted a dense bamboo forest, climbed a hill, descended its grassy side, and found himself surrounded by three-foot-tall mushrooms. Sonic paused and looked around. Mushroom Hill looked the same as it did the last time he was here; tall, widely spaced trees that cast dense shade, where the mushrooms flourished.

Sonic ran among them, ignoring unpleasant fungi odors and avoiding low spots where the ground was wet. He didn't know why he was here, except that he knew that even Knuckles seldom visited this area, because of the mosquitos and gnats-

Something slipped behind a mushroom.

Sonic skidded to a halt, staring. Mekion? Or Robo Knux? All he had seen was the movement, not the color. He slunk toward the mushroom, ready to run. "Hello?" he called. "It's me, Sonic. I won't hurt you." If it was Robo Knux he'd just tear off his other arm.

A black head edged around the corner of the mushroom's cap, and Mekion looked at Sonic with one eye. Sonic froze and watched him, forgetting everything he had intended to say. The two stared at each other for a long moment without moving. Sonic wished he would send a signal that he was friendly, but the only thing he could think to do was put his hands above his head, and he didn't want to surrender. Then he recalled something Slasher had told him years ago: put yourself lower than them and make yourself small. Smaller is less threatening.

Sonic sank slowly until he was sitting on the mossy ground. "See?" he said. "I don't want to hurt you, Mekion. Have ... have you been programmed to hate me?"

Mekion's head gave the ghost of a shake-no.

Sonic felt relief wash over him. All the Mecha-bots were programmed to hate and fear him, but maybe they couldn't do it with Mekion. "Are you supposed to kill me?"

Again that tiny negative head shake. Another good sign! Sonic leaned forward, willing himself to reach the hedgehog under the machinery. "So why do you call me your enemy?"

Mekion was still for several minutes. Then he stepped into the open and stood looking at Sonic. Had Sonic known it, Mekion was making himself vulnerable by leaving cover. It was his way of showing he meant no harm, the way Sonic was sitting down. But Sonic thought that Mekion meant to attack him and tensed.

Now he had a chance to look at Mekion. One half of him was Shadow, pitifully thin with ribs sowing through his fur, and his eye was sunken. His robot side, on the other hand, was built to resemble muscles, and his robot spines were crooked metal blades. The mixture of delicate mortal and invincible machine created a lopsided, pitiable creature, and Sonic longed to sit him down, talk to him, and get him a few square meals.

"I call you my enemy," whispered Mekion, "because my Master told me you are the most dangerous creature I will ever meet."

Sonic was flattered and tempted to laugh, but had the sense not to. "You're as dangerous as I am."

"I am primarily a stealth unit," said Mekion, his flesh-side frowning. "You engage in combat. I must therefore avoid you. But-" He passed a hand over his face in a gesture Sonic recognized. "Why did you defend me from Robo Knux?"

Sonic scrambled for an answer. Because you're my friend? Because Robo Knux was going to kill you? Because your master-Robotnik, probably-is a diabolical fiend and you don't know it?

"I knew you before they made you into a robot," said Sonic, trying to phrase his thoughts so a mind-wiped slave would understand them. "We were enemies at first, but then we got to be friends. I saved you from the Biolizard, and then-" He stopped, feeling the old torment return, and concluded, "You're still the same person, even if you don't remember. That's why I saved you."

Mekion gazed at him and said nothing. Sonic gazed back, hearing the wind in the treetops and wishing it would stir the still air around him. He was so tense that sweat was soaking the spines on his back.

"Correction," said Mekion. "Shadow was your friend. Mekion is your enemy." He motioned to his flesh side. "This is Shadow." He motioned to his robot side. "This is Mekion."

_Oh great,_ thought Sonic, _he's got duel personalities._ Groping for an argument against this, he noticed the clear plastic-stuff on the metal where Robo Knux's claws had punctured it. "But Robo Knux attacked Mekion," Sonic said triumphantly. "And I defended Mekion. You're still my friend, even with a different name."

"All of me?" said Mekion, looking surprised.

"Yes," said Sonic. "I want to help you."

Mekion thought about this. "No. I cannot allow that. It would hurt my Master, and the First Law is that I cannot allow my Master to be hurt."

"First Law?" said Sonic. "You have laws now?"

"Yes," said Mekion. His head turned and he gazed off across Mushroom Hill. "Run," he said, and bolted for the shelter of a clump of mushrooms.

Sonic jumped to his feet and watched Mekion run-he had robotic feet similar to his hoverskates, and moved as if half-running half-skating. Then Sonic looked in the direction Mekion had looked, and heard the low hum of Robo Knux's engines.

What was the deal with Robo Knux, anyway? He hesitated a second, then ran through the mushrooms toward the robot. "Hey! Hey! Over here, you moron!" Sonic saw Robo Knux halfway up the hill, head turning from Mekion's location to Sonic and back, as if he was deciding who he hated worse.

"What's the matter?" Sonic yelled. "Scared I'll tear your other arm off?

"Ha," Robo Knux replied, his uninjured arm panels folding down to reveal the barrel of a gun. "I've never been scared of you, Sonic."

Sonic dodged as Robo Knux fired a rocket that struck a mushroom and exploded in orange fire and a cloud of spores. Robo Knux watched this unusual sight with interest. "They explode! Is that what they call a mushroom cloud?"

"Your puns are as bad as your aim," said Sonic. "I think you've gotten rusty." He bolted off at an angle, and Robo Knux fired another rocket. It missed Sonic and blew up a mushroom cluster instead.

"Even though I missed, I find this extremely satisfying," said the robot, watching bits of fungi hit the ground.

Sonic ran toward the robot and curled into a spindash at the last second. Robo Knux flung up his wing-like arm to shield himself and at the same time slashed at the ball of spines with his other hand. Sonic glanced off his arm, knocking the robot over, and landed on his feet with a shallow gash along the back of his neck. Sonic knew better than to stand there and check for blood, so he ran circles around his enemy as the robot stood up and aimed his rocket launcher at Sonic.

"Why bother me, Sonic?" said Robo Knux. "I haven't bothered you or your little friends, but you're starting to tick me off."

"Why do you keep attacking Mekion?" said Sonic, and dashed in for another hit. Again Robo Knux deflected the blow.

"So this is about the cyborg freak," said Robo Knux, his green eyes flashing in derision. "I'm going to destroy him because doing so would upset Metal Sonic."

"Why should Mecha care?" said Sonic, and flashed in to attack. This time Robo Knux met him with both sets of claws, and ripped chunks out of Sonic's spines as the hedgehog whipped by. "Mecha cares because he built Mekion," said Robo Knux, brushing blue quills out of his claws. "Need I say more?"

"I suggest you leave before I rip both your arms off," said Sonic.

Robo Knux laughed. "Oh, is that what you're trying to do? I thought you wanted to dance."

Sonic crouched for an instant as Robo Knux rotated weapons in his arm to something with a faster fire-rate. Before the robot could fire, Sonic vanished. Robo Knux was surrounded by a blue whirlwind, and the blows came so fast he could not block them. He fired in all directions, spraying the wood with bullets, before his gun stopped working.

Silence fell, and Sonic skidded to a halt, panting. Robo Knux looked down at his arms, which were hanging from his shoulders in mangled tatters. Then he looked up and cursed Sonic's paternal line four generations back.

Sonic shook a finger. "Robotnik needs to clean out your vocabulary storage. See you around."

Then he was gone, leaving Robo Knux fuming and disarmed.


	8. Accident

Tails was standing in the salt cave entrance, looking out, when Sonic galloped up to him with his hairdo in shambles. "Robo Knux won't bother us now! Gimme five, little bro!"

Tails slapped Sonic's palm, grinning and relieved to see Sonic in a good mood. "What happened to your hair?"

"Oh, nothing a little gel can't fix," said Sonic, patting it. Then he noticed his glove was stained with red. "Aw heck, I'm bleeding."

"Good grief," said Tails. "Did he get your head?"

"My neck," said Sonic glumly. "Better break out the bandages."

Tails retreated into the cave and returned with Zephyer, who was carrying a white box. Zinc followed her, carrying a roll of gauze in his claws and looking important. "Gee whiz, Sonic," said Zephyer. "Did he try to cut your head off? Let me see."

Sonic submitted to her prodding, although he yelled when she dabbed iodine on his cuts.

"Good thing it's not very deep," said Zephyer. "I'd have to give you stitches, and I only know how to do it from a book."

"Thank goodness," Sonic muttered as she wound gauze around his neck. "Ack! Not so tight!"

"You could leave some hanging off and I could use it as a leash," said Tails, looking impish.

"Over my dead body," said Sonic. "Where's Knux? He's not here to gloat."

"He's checking the island's location," said Zinc, who was handing Zephyer things even if they were an inch from her hand. "He thinks we've made good time. Feel how warm it is?"

"Yeah, it's like summer," said Sonic. "Are you done yet?"

"Yes," said Zephyer, putting everything back in the medkit. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," said Sonic, touching the cotton bandage on the back of his neck. "I got off light. Robo Knux can do you a lot of damage if you're not careful."

"I'll say," came Knuckles's voice. They looked up to see him standing on the clifftop above their cave.

"Hi Knuckles!" said Tails. "How's it looking?"

"Pretty good," said the echidna. "What's this about Robo Knux?"

"I ruined his arms," said Sonic. "He can't bother us now."

"Technically he could," said Knuckles, "but it'd probably be okay to go back to Chaotix Central. Unless you really made him mad."

"He said he was trying to kill Mekion because it'd make Metal Sonic mad."

Knuckles thought about this. "Huh. Did you see Mekion?"

"Yeah," said Sonic. "Had a nice little chat."

"Seems to have improved your mood no end," said Knuckles. He glided off the edge of the cliff, circled around and landed with a thump. "So what did he say?"

Sonic recounted the conversation with Mekion, wishing they had talked longer. "He's still Shadow, even if he doesn't remember. The way he talked and everything-but now he talks in a whisper. And I don't think he's eaten in days."

"Maybe we could leave some food out for him," said Zephyer. "Maybe it'd convince him we're friendly."

"He said he couldn't be friends because it would hurt his master, which violates the First Law," said Sonic. "Whatever that means."

"That's a new one," said Knuckles.

A few minutes later Knuckles rounded up the Chaotix, and the group busied themselves collecting their things to take back to Chaotix Central. The mood was the opposite of the night before; they laughed and joked, and Sonic kept them laughing with descriptions of Robo Knux blowing up mushrooms. They trooped back through the hills and trees to Knuckles's house, which was just as they had left it. Once there, everyone drifted off in different directions. Tails headed for the crystal mine, Zephyer resumed studying the Old Mobian primer, and Talon left to play with the chao. The Chaotix scattered except for Might and Espio, who were practicing team juggling and listening to one of Vector's rock bands.

Sonic found Knuckles on a hilltop, facing east and tossing the Master Emerald from hand to hand. "Hey Knux," said Sonic, walking up to him. "Sorry I was such a jerk earlier."

"It's okay," said Knuckles absently.

There was a long pause, and Sonic watched Knuckles's unconscious play with the green gem. "Got something on your mind?"

"Hmm?" said knuckles, blinking at him. "Oh, yes. A couple things."

"Zephyer?" said sonic, elbowing the echidna.

Knuckles grinned. "Of course Zephyer. But other things, too." He pointed at the eastern sky. "There's a storm front moving in. I thought this north wind was odd, and I'm kind of worried."

He resumed tossing the emerald back and forth, but Sonic grabbed his wrist. "Will you stop that? It's really annoying."

"Fine," said Knuckles, folding his arms. "These are hurricane conditions."

Sonic stared at him. "Hurricane? Is that bad?"

"You have no idea," said Knuckles. "Hurricanes last four or five days, and it's a lot of work keeping the island stabilized."

"But couldn't it just be a storm?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles shrugged. "Sure, but I have to be ready for everything. Now get lost and let me think."

Sonic drifted down the hill, then broke into a run and vanished in the direction of Mushroom Hill. Knuckles continued to gaze at the sky, preoccupied with his thoughts. At the same time he was keenly aware of everything around him, as if the Master Emerald was his own island-wide scanner. As a result he turned and gazed into a clump of brush ten feet away and said, "What are you doing on my island?"

Metal Sonic's red eyes flashed in fury at being discovered, but he replied, "Observing Mekion's progress."

"And Sonic too, right?"

Metal Sonic said quietly, "If Robo Knux can stay here without harming anyone, I can too."

"What is it with you robots and 'not harming anyone'?" snapped Knuckles. "You were built for harming people. Give me one reason why I shouldn't tear you into scrap and spit on the remains."

"Mekion," said the robot. "If I send him a distress signal he will come and defend me. I am his Master."

"Bad reason," said Knuckles, holding the Master Emerald in both hands. "Got another?"

"I am merely here to observe," said Metal Sonic. "Had I come to destroy you, I would have done so instead of exchanging idle banter."

"Another bad reason," said Knuckles. "I don't like you or your kind, Mecha. You've broken too many promises. Get out of my sight, because the next time I see you, I won't stop to exchange idle banter." The Master Emerald was glowing a hot green in his fists, and Knuckles's fur was standing on end from the charge. Metal Sonic noticed this and beat a hasty retreat.

Knuckles relaxed and let the power drain out of him. "Stupid robots," he muttered.

* * *

Mekion sat in the deep shadow of a mushroom cluster that grew against the wall of a gully. Down here it was dark and still, and all sounds were muffled. His scanner told him that Sonic was out there running around, probably looking for him. But Mekion did not want to be found. He wanted time alone.

Here in the friendly darkness he could think through the astonishing events of the past few hours. Sonic had intervened on his behalf twice, attacking Robo Knux at great personal risk. All this because of a supposed friendship he had had with Mekion long ago. So Mekion was studying the images Robo Knux had given him and replaying the account of his past over and over. Aside from sharing a battle with Sonic, Mekion could not see where a friendship might have come from. His Shadow self had only known Sonic a few days before it 'died'. Sonic's actions were illogical. And yet he had fought Robo Knux. If this supposed friendship did not exist, then why did Sonic do that?

He puzzled a long time over the image of himself weeping over a dead chao. Before he was made into a cyborg, he was a thin, lanky hedgehog with wild spines and slanted, angry-looking eyes. The chao ... the chao ... He studied it closely, peering at its face. The chao was the only familiar thing about the whole strange story. He felt that he would recognize it if he only looked at it enough. He looked at the pictures and repeated its name over and over. "Nox. Nox. Nox."

He wearied of this unrewarding task after an hour, and activated his network hardware to see what had become of Robo Knux. There was a transmission from him consisting of swear words, and his location was somewhere on the mainland. Mekion allowed himself a cold smile at the thought of Robo Knux using a teleporter and being shut down en route. That was one less problem to deal with.

His systems also detected Metal Sonic's presence. Surprised, Mekion sent him a transmission. "Master, what are you doing here?"

"Observing you," came the reply. "So far you have exceeded my expectations, and I wish to see you accomplish your primary objective in person."

Mekion felt a swell of pride. His Master was pleased!

"One more thing," said Metal Sonic. "Check the weather satellites, and prepare yourself for severe weather."

Mekion obeyed and discovered that severe storms were forecast in their area over the next week. "Thank you, Master."

"Yes." Metal Sonic started to speak, changed his mind, and ended the transmission. He was becoming overly fond of Mekion, and decided that giving him two warnings in a row was a sign of weakness.

Mekion took stock of his surroundings. He had good cover, and Sonic was still searching for him. There was no reason to break cover at the moment. He curled up on the ground and slept.

* * *

Sonic hunted among the trees and mushrooms all afternoon, but never saw a sign of Mekion. Discouraged and thinking about dinner, he left the swamp and ran up into the hills, relishing the fresh air on his face. If only Shadow weren't so stiff-necked and would come run with him! They would have great fun. But no, Shadow was enslaved and had to obey some weird laws.

He directed his steps toward the mine where Tails was working. Sonic felt a twinge of remorse for not working with him, but the thought of being trapped down there in the rock-he felt stifled at the thought. He didn't need money that bad. Then he thought of Velocity languishing in the chao gardens. Well, he did need money, but there were other ways to get it.

Sonic rounded a bend and found Tails emerging from the tunnel mouth, a rock in one hand, and the other held at a funny angle. As soon as he saw Sonic, the fox's face crumpled into tears. "Sonic-"

Sonic dashed to him. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"My hand," Tails whimpered, holding it out. "I was chiseling at this one place and-"

Sonic took Tails's hand and blanched. He had run the chisel into the heel of his hand through the glove, and the wound was hideous. "Nine stitches," Sonic estimated. "I'll tell Knux to get us to the mainland. I won't let Zephyer sew you up."

Tails managed a weak smile. "That's what I was afraid of. But look what I found!" He held up the rock in his other hand. Even encrusted in rock, Sonic could see it was glowing a deep sea green.

"Hold on to that," he said. He picked up Tails with a grunt and ran for Chaotix Central. First he got hurt, and now Tails. What next?

Sonic deposited Tails at the house and went looking for knuckles. After a frantic fifteen-minute search he located the echidna on top of a rock outcropping. "Knux!" Sonic yelled up at him. "We have an emergency!"

Knuckles looked down at him. "What?"

"Tails sliced his hand open by accident," Sonic replied. "Can we go back to Sapphire Bay?"

"We're right here by Casino City," said Knuckles. "They'll have a hospital."

"If we use a teleporter, we can't get back."

"I'll give you a portable one." Knuckles jumped off the rocks. "How bad is it?" he asked as they jogged down to Chaotix Central.

"It's nasty," said Sonic. "It's really deep and bleeding buckets."

"Did you put a tourniquet on it?"

"Tails already did, he used his other glove."

"Smart kid." As they neared the house, Knuckles gave Sonic a dark look. "You stay away from the casinos."

"Knux, give me a break. You doubt my self-control?"

"I know you need money. When you get Tails patched up, get back here immediately."

"Sure, sure." Sonic laid his ears back and wished his thoughts weren't so transparent.

Everyone on the island escorted Sonic and Tails to the outbound teleporter. "Be back here by eight at the latest," said Knuckles as Sonic and Tails stepped onto the lens. "And if you have to stay later, drop me a line."

"Aye aye, Mister Guardian," said sonic. The teleporter lit up, and the hedgehog and fox vanished in a sparkle of light.

Knuckles looked at the Chaotix, Talon and Zephyer. "There's no more mining allowed on my island. Not without supervision."

"Oh darn," said Espio. "I guess you'll have to close the coal mine, eh?"

Knuckles mock-punched him. "I shouldn't have let Tails work alone. So this is it. No more. And don't sneak off to Casino City, either." He looked hard at Vector, who looked innocent. "Oh, and before you leave," Knuckles added as everyone began to drift away, "Metal Sonic is here."

"What's he doing here?" spat Zephyer. "First Robo Knux, and now Mecha?"

"He says he's observing Mekion," said Knuckles. "Be on the lookout for him, and nobody go far from Chaotix Central."

As the group drifted away, Talon and Zephyer remained behind. Talon's eyes were wide. "Sir, what if we're attacked?"

"I have this," said Knuckles, holding up the Master Emerald. "If he tries anything, I'll flatten him. I already warned him once."

Talon did not look reassured, and Zephyer put an arm around him. "Stick with me, Talon. I won't let anything happen to you."

Talon looked at her, then at Knuckles. "Why don't you chase him off?"

Knuckles motioned to the island. "I don't know where he is. But if he comes within a mile I'll feel him, and then..." He smacked his fist into his palm.

They walked back to Chaotix Central as the sun sank in a blaze of red, and the lights of Casino City lit up the coast.

* * *

Mekion emerged from Mushroom Hill at twilight with two objectives. The first-locate Sonic and photograph him, because it was high time this mission ended. The second-locate food.

There wasn't a breath of air stirring, and the leaves and palm fronds hung limp as Mekion ghosted along on his jets. He detected no one until he entered Chaotix Central. The lights were on inside the house, and he could see people moving to and fro. He swept them with a detail scan. Sonic and Tails were absent.

The front door opened and Mekion retreated into a philodendron. From the shelter of the leaves he watched the female robot echidna cross the yard and leave a covered plate at the foot of a palm tree. She stood for a moment, gazing around the area, then went back inside. Mekion waited for further developments, wondering why the echidna had behaved so strangely. He scanned the plate she had left, and realized it was food.

When the night remained still, Mekion whisked out of hiding, sized the plate and carried it into hiding. It was a serving of some kind of potato, and he devoured it, relishing his first encounter with hot food. When he finished he replaced the plate under the tree and began to circle the house, seeking Sonic.

"What if that food was poisoned?" came Metal Sonic's quiet, accusing voice over the transmission link.

Mekion froze. "That can happen?"

"Yes. Your organic half requires the kind of food that organics eat, and it can also be poisoned by things harmful to organics."

Mekion analyzed his Shadow self, but his stomach felt fine. "Sensors detect no poisons."

"Be wary of food offered you," said Metal Sonic. "Organics do not share their food with such as you without some motive."

"Yes Master." Mekion crouched in the darkness, berating his organic self for not thinking of this. It seemed that whenever he interacted with the likes of Sonic his organic mind took over and his actions became illogical. He wished that all he had was his cool, calm robot mind. But it was pleasant to be full.

He lurked around Chaotix Central for two hours, waiting for Sonic to appear and pondering the female echidna's motive for leaving food outside. Maybe she had put it out for Sonic, who was still missing. Where had he gone? Had he returned to his home on the mainland? Mekion nearly ran for the nearest teleporter, but checked himself. He could afford to wait until morning. Sonic had been late before.

The teleporter half a mile away flashed like lightning, and Mekion whipped around. Someone had just arrived, probably Sonic. He darted through the trees down toward the trail, setting his eye to image capture. If he was quick enough-

Sonic and Tails came running up the trail. Tails's left hand was bandaged, but aside from that the fox appeared in good health. He and Sonic blew past Mekion without seeing him, and Mekion's image capture registered only a blur. He ran after them, hoping for another chance, but they reached the house ahead of him and were inside by the time he arrived.

Panting and frustrated, Mekion looked through the windows, and saw Tails showing off his bandaged hand.


	9. Reflection

"Sonic was right, I got nine stitches," said Tails, grinning. "They also gave me a tetanus shot, which wasn't so fun."

"Better than getting tetanus," said Knuckles.

Sonic fanned himself. "Why is it so hot in here?"

"It is?" said Zephyer, who preferred hot weather.

"It's sweltering," said Sonic. "Open some windows, why don't you?"

They opened the windows, but the air was still and no breeze moved the air. There was much complaining about this as one by one everyone went to bed. Sonic lay on top of his sleeping bag, spread-eagled, and thinking wistfully of the casinos next door to the hospital. It had taken a Herculean amount of effort to leave them alone. Among other things, they were air-conditioned.

Beside him Tails tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position for his bandaged arm. Finally Sonic said, "Can you hold still for five minutes in a row?"

"It hurts bad," said Tails through his teeth. "The stupid painkiller takes a while to kick in."

Talon, on the bed above them, sat up. "Do you want to trade places, Tails? Maybe it'd be more comfortable."

"At this point I'll try anything," said Tails, jumping up on the bed as Talon flopped on the sleeping bag. For a few minutes there was silence. Then Tails said, "I want to go home."

"Why?" said Sonic.

"It's not a million degrees at home," said the fox. "I'm tired of digging. I want to work on the Cyclone."

"That thing you found will probably pay for a chao," said Sonic.

"I hope so," said Tails, changing positions fretfully. "Oh my gosh, something's outside."

Sonic and Talon looked at the window in time to see something duck out of sight. For half a second Sonic lay in paralyzed terror. Then he jumped up and looked out the window. Something was disappearing into the darkness of the trees across the yard. "I think it was Mekion," he said. He sat down and pulled on his shoes. "I'm going after him.

"Alone?" said Talon, horrified.

"I've been looking for him all day," said Sonic. "He won't hurt me."

"What about Metal Sonic?" said Tails, for Knuckles had warned them about the robot upon their return.

"I just diced up Robo Knux," said Sonic. "I can handle Mecha. Toodles." He jumped out the window and bolted away into the night.

The minutes ticked by. The pain gradually left Tails's hand as the medicine took effect and he dozed, exhausted by pain. Talon lay on the floor in the sleeping bag, missing his bed but too polite to say so, straining his ears for any sound from outside. But there was only the chirping of crickets, and after an hour Talon, too, dozed off.

When Talon awoke the next morning Sonic was in the next sleeping bag, his face smudged and dirty with leaves stuck in his quills. Tails was snoring with the blankets kicked off. Talon got up and tiptoed out to get breakfast, feeling sorry for both of them.

* * *

Mekion had played an enjoyable game of cat and mouse with Sonic all night long. He could not get close to Sonic without Sonic seeing him, however. Sonic always saw him no matter how deep the shadows, and Mekion began to wonder if his white fur gave him away.

At two AM Sonic gave up and returned to the house, Mekion ghosting behind him all the way. He watched Sonic climb through the window with a sense of loss. Sonic was fun to play with. Mekion considered taking a picture of Sonic after he was asleep, but something in his organic mind spoke up that doing so was poor sportsmanship. Where had such a concept come from? His organic mind had too much control. He fought back with his robot brain, horrified at how Shadow was nearly as strong as Mekion.

When dawn spilled over the island and the red sun rose out of a bank of ruddy clouds, Mekion sought shelter in a small cave in the rocks outside of Mushroom Hill. It was ten feet deep and scarcely big enough for his body, but it was dark. The rock was cool, welcome relief from the humid heat outside. Mekion slept and woke and slept again, the weight of the air making him restless.

He wished he had a place to hide like the one he remembered: sheltered by walls, it was a yard of trees and cool grass. As he dozed, other memory fragments of this ideal place returned. A small blue creature had discovered him and wouldn't leave him alone. The longer he stayed the darker the creature became, until it resembled a black hedgehog with twisted spines. He remembered saying, "Since you have patterned yourself after a Shadow, your name will be Nox. Darkness."

So that was where Nox had come from. Mekion was not surprised-his robot brain stood back and watched with mild scorn as his organic memory pieced itself together. He did not need to know these things. At the same time the Shadow part of him was starved for more. It wanted to know, it would do anything to know, and the Mekion part held it in check. The result was an irritable mood, and fitful sleeping.

Near noon the air was so thick that Mekion left his hole in search of some place cool, preferably near water. The sky was a hot ceramic blue, and a mass of white thunderheads reared up in the east. As Mekion stole from tree to tree, avoiding the sun, he noticed with misery that there were no breezes or wind. Nothing to cool his organic side, which was damp with sweat.

He found the river and splashed water onto his fur, then burrowed into the damp earth in the shelter of some underbrush. A cricket chirped here and there, but no birds sang. Over the whole island was an oppressive stillness.

Nox could read minds, he remembered. It was disquieting to have a chao who could read you like a book. He remembered the look in Nox's eyes as he peered into his master's thoughts, reading his emotions and moods. Shadow had resented the chao's intrusion, but Nox continued to love him and tried to please him in bumbling ways. Mekion remembered kicking the chao, who got up and continued following him without a whimper. Why had he kicked Nox? Oh yes, because Nox caught him grieving over ... over...

Mekion began to pluck grass one blade at a time, eyes fixed unseeingly on the river. Maria. His adoptive sister who cared for him when he was little. Then he cared for her when he grew up healthy and she did not. And then that horrible day when They came, and he found her lying on the floor with a bullet through her chest...

He came to himself and realized he was tearing up grass in fistfuls. He stopped immediately, and his robot side kicked in. All this happened many years ago. There was no sense in getting angry over it. He wiped a hot tear from his real eye. Shadow, not Mekion, felt pain at these memories, and mere logic could not mend it. Blast Nox, still causing him pain even after his death.

Nox's death ... Shadow felt distress at this thought, but Mekion wrested his thoughts away from that topic. No more brooding. Stop thinking and go to sleep. Shadow obeyed, and the duel-natured hedgehog dozed under the oppressive atmosphere.

* * *

Metal Sonic stood in a bamboo forest surrounded by dense greenness like giant-sized grass. He had ripped a small clearing for himself and now stood there, hidden from all eyes in deep shade, his cooling fans purring to keep his internal machinery free of condensation. He had kept an eye on Mekion's logfiles ever since his arrival the day before, observing how Shadow and Mekion interacted. Metal Sonic had not expected the two to battle for mastery. Mutual cooperation between the two was becoming less frequent. During the periods that Shadow was in control, nothing was logged. It was not until Mekion returned to the surface that location and actions were noted. It precipitated a rebellion sometime in the future, and Metal Sonic studied it with a sense of disappointment.

Metal Sonic's mind was a nanite brain, alive in every sense. He had it programmed with his own data and installed, and it increased system performance 1000%. In fact his current body was now obsolete compared to the efficiency of his mind. A half-finished new body design was in his lab, but at the moment Mekion's development was more interesting.

With the advent of a new brain, Metal Sonic had thought through his original programming and found it lacking. His original creation had been that of an assassin, made to hunt down and kill Sonic. He still wished to complete this objective, but it was no longer imperative. Killing was too easy. The last time he had killed someone (a necessary murder, for it was a nosy reporter poking around one of Metal Sonic's hideouts), he had gazed at the fallen body, then at his own reddened claws, and reflected how pointless it was to kill without reason.

What was for more interesting was the act of creation; bringing an inanimate object to life. It was difficult and challenging. As a result Metal Sonic had taken to experimenting with building robots out of biometal, an alloy he had invented himself. He had not sworn off killing, exactly, but he saw it as a waste of time and resources, and decided that taking a life was squandering that which had taken much time on someone's behalf to create.

His first creation under this mindset had been Leviathan, the cybernetic velociraptor. From a scientific standpoint Leviathan had been a beautiful thing, self-aware and semi-biological, capable of healing and freewill. However, he had no restraints built into him, and ran wild after turning on his creators. In this way he was a failure.

For several years Metal Sonic had been afraid to wield his newfound power and create another robot. Leviathan had caused tremendous havoc before he was stopped, and another robotic creature must have safeguards and restraints built into it.

But his nerve had returned, and one day the perfect experiment literally fell out of the sky: Shadow, resurrected by the power of a phoenix, but still broken in mind and body. Metal Sonic retried Shadow and the dead chao and took them to his laboratory, and there he converted half of Shadow into a biotic, powered by the bioelectricity generated by Shadow's body. Safeguards were set in both sides of Shadow's mind to keep him from going rogue like Leviathan had done ... and now both sides of the mind were struggling against each other.

Metal Sonic observed Mekion's broken sleep-patterns and hoped that Mekion would remain loyal to him. He checked himself. What was he thinking? Had he developed an attachment to this creation of his? He thought of the two warnings he had given Mekion, and the reprimand about poison. All of them were unnecessary. But Metal Sonic had given them anyway because he did not wish any harm to befall Mekion. The fact that he wished to protect Mekion revealed that he cared for him.

Metal Sonic, in giving himself a semi-real brain in quest for efficiency, had sabotaged himself. He now had the ability to feel. Lacking experience with this concept, he did not know how to guard himself from growing attacked to something, and now found himself open to pain, another concept he did not understand.

He knew Mekion would rebel. And yet he fell back on illogical hope, calculating the odds that Mekion would remain loyal. And beneath it all was that unfamiliar feeling-pain.

In the east a storm was gathering. Metal Sonic observed its progress with the same foreboding with which he observed Mekion. And in both cases, he was helpless to stop it.

* * *

"Good grief, Tails," said Sonic, stepping outdoors into the damp heat. "Look at this storm out here."

Tails stepped outside and followed Sonic's gaze. Half the sky was black with clouds, and they were massed behind the mountain range in the center of the island. Other forerunners of the storm ranged out to the east and west, but the bulk of the storm had hung up on the Floating Island.

"Oh, that is weird-looking!" Tails exclaimed. "Is it a hurricane?"

"I don't know where Knux is or I'd ask him," said Sonic. "He said these are hurricane conditions, though. And you know, down here it's the rainy season."

The pair gazed at the violent purples and blues of the massing thunderheads. The air was still, and humidity condensed on the leaves and grass, dripping as if from a rain.

"Knux has got to get some air conditioning," said Sonic, fanning his face. "Maybe he'll get Zeff one when they get married."

"She likes the heat," said Tails. "And I don't think she'll marry him."

"Want to bet on that?"

"Sure. I bet the Cyclone."

"And I'll bet the Tornado."

"But they're the same thing!"

Sonic grinned. "I know. Whoever wins gets to drive it for a month."

Tails shook hands clumsily. "You're on."

Lightning flashed behind the mountains, and after a while they heard a low, soft roll of thunder. "This is going to be a colossal storm," said sonic, watching it. "Want to find some place to watch from?"

"Sure," said Tails. "But not near any tall trees."

"Hey, I'm not that stupid."

The pair set off at a trot toward the hills, watching the clouds mass and sweating in the heat.

* * *

Knuckles stood on a hilltop, watching the roiling of the clouds as the massed behind the mountains. The storm was colliding, compressing, building into a monster. When it exploded over the mountains its strength would be awesome, and Knuckles was worrying that everyone should have stayed in the salt cave after all. From what he could see, three storm cells were combining into one supercell, and the sky had a dark, angry look as if it meant to take on the island and win. He thought about lowering the island into the ocean, but there was twenty-foot swell down there, and it would damage the island. No, they had to stay put.

But at least it wasn't a hurricane.

* * *

Mekion crawled out of hiding and looked at the sky. Shadow's instincts were telling him to find better shelter, and Mekion wanted to know why. He checked the weather satellite and saw a massive storm system was building on top of them, and waterspout watches had been issued for Casino City. He looked up the definition of 'waterspout' and discovered it was a kind of tornado over the ocean. He guessed this was bad, and began to walk southwards, brushing off water that dripped from the tree canopy. The air was still, and no insects chirped. All of creation held its breath, waiting.


	10. Storm

"There's kind of a cave here," said Tails, pointing to a dark opening in a hillside that was partially screened by trees. "We could sit in there and have front row seats."

"Okay, maybe later," said Sonic, who would rather die than enter a cave. "Wow, look at the sky now."

The fox and hedgehog were in a wide meadow at the base of a hill, looking east into the storm. The sky was overcast now, but the bulk of the storm had yet to escape the mountains. Lightning flickered like a warning. Sonic watched, transfixed, but Tails began to climb the hill toward the cave. This was the biggest storm he had ever seen, and he didn't want to be caught in it. "Come on, Sonic," he called.

"In a minute," Sonic called back. "Wow, look, I think it's coming over the mountains!"

Tails paused to look. The mountaintops vanished into the darkness of the clouds, which were rolling toward them and blotting out the daylight. Tails and Sonic stood and watched the visible movement of the storm. Lightning licked through it in a web, illuminating the inside of the cloud in gold and pink, and thunder rolled like cannonfire.

As it overcame the mountain the storm's personality changed from a brooding giant to an attacking monster. Enraged at its delay behind the mountains and strengthened on a diet of hot, moist air, the storm knotted and swirled and began to rotate.

"Sonic," said Tails, pointing to an odd, rotating cloud mass above them. "Sonic, I think that's a funnel cloud."

Sonic looked. "No way. The island's too uneven for tornadoes!" But he and Tails scrambled up the hill toward the cave. The funnel cloud passed over them, and Sonic looked up into the swirling, tube-like center of the descending tornado. It touched down in the trees across the field, sucking up leaves and dust and breaking palm trees like matchsticks. Sonic watched it in hypnotized fascination. He had been in a tornado once before, but had never watched one go about its destructive business. He could see the upper part reaching down like a finger, and see the whipping trees on the ground, but there was nothing between them but a few flying leaves. It wound away westward, and above the skies were split by lightning and a roar of thunder. But there was no rain, and no wind.

"Sonic!" Tails screamed. "Get in here!"

Sonic snapped out of his reverie and looked around. Then he looked at the sky and thought he was seeing things. The whole underbelly of the storm was swirling with cyclonic formations-pre-funnel clouds. Sonic dashed up the hill to the cave, but paused again just outside it, his loathing of closed-in spaces temporarily outweighing his fear of tornadoes.

"Sonic, please come in here!" Tails whimpered. "Remember Windy Valley? I don't want that to happen again, please-!"

Sonic watched in awe as another funnel touched down to the north and wound its way toward them, gathering speed and size as it went. At last a gust of ferocious wind struck them, whipping at the palm trees and flattening Sonic's ears. "This one's gonna come right through the field!" Sonic exclaimed, watching the funnel take on shape as it vacuumed up dust. "Tails, look at it!"

"Sonic, don't stay out there," Tails begged, near tears. "It's too dangerous-"

The world ignited in white light and thunder shook the ground. A palm tree up the hill had been split from top to bottom, and it burned in a startled kind of way as the tornado corkscrewed into the field. For a second Sonic watched its base tear up the grass in a mad spiral, the black cloud overhead stooping down to touch the earth. Then the tornado veered toward Sonic as if governed by an imp of destruction.

Suddenly sand all around Sonic was sucked into the air, and he felt the wind snatch at him. He dropped to all fours and scrambled for the cave, half hypnotized and half terrified, like a mouse under the gaze of a cobra. The wind roared like a freight train, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He clawed at the ground, but there was nothing to hold on to, and in giddy disbelief he watched the ground falling away. II've been picked up by a tornado,/i he thought, then terror took over and he curled into a protective ball.

Sonic had been picked up by the updraft that circled the funnel and was hurled upward, spiraling around the funnel's outside like a piece of debris. The tornado carried him on its mad dance across the island until it reached the edge of the island, where the pressure and temperature changed. The tornado retreated into the clouds, and Sonic free fell with the other discarded debris.

He struck the ground and bounced like a Super Ball, downhill. The impact jarred him out of the paralysis of terror. He uncurled and realized his momentum was carrying toward the edge of the Floating Island, which was a thousand feet above the sea.

He struck the ground again and rolled down a steep bank covered with wet grass. He clawed at the grass, ripping furrows in it with his fingers, and managed to stop at the very edge, his body hanging over the edge.

Sonic hung there, gasping for breath, horribly aware that below his feet was a quarter of a mile of empty space. He could feel his handfuls of grass ripping free, root by root, and here at the island's edge was a strong wind that threatened to knock him loose. He freed one hand and tried to pull himself up, but he was at the foot of a steep hill and could not get enough leverage to lift himself. Panicking and slipping, he strained to climb up, but the wind and his half-stunned muscles were working against him.

Gasping in fear and exertion, he looked up the hill and saw Mekion looking down at him. The cyborg's claws were buried in a tree trunk, which was how he had secured himself against the wind. He was looking down at Sonic with detached interest.

"Mekion, help me!" Sonic cried between breaths. The figure did not move. "I'm slipping, please help me," Sonic begged. "Shadow! Help me!"

center* * * /center

Mekion had seen Sonic fall, and Shadow wanted to help him at once. But Mekion stepped in. "Sonic doesn't need you. He's strong-the most dangerous foe you will ever meet. Let him save himself."

Mekion and Shadow watched as Sonic tried to climb up the slope, but could not.

"If he is so strong, why does he not climb up?" Shadow thought.

"It is a ploy to appeal to your weak side," Mekion answered scornfully. "Let him save himself."

Sonic looked up and their eyes met. First Sonic appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion sneered inwardly. "He expects me, his enemy, to help him. Doing so would injure my Master, for he hates Sonic. That is a violation of the First Law."

Then Sonic spoke to Shadow. "Shadow! Help me!"

Shadow chafed against Mekion's control. "He is a weak mortal, like me. I used to know him. Pulling him up would not be a violation of the First Law."

"You are experiencing pity. It is a weakness."

"Then I am weak! He was my friend once, and I owe him a favor!"

"You know the penalty."

"Shadow, please!" Sonic cried.

The abject fear and helplessness in his voice stabbed into Shadow's heart, and the cyborg staggered as if dealt a blow.

"He is an enemy!" Mekion screamed, realizing he was losing the battle.

"He was my friend!" Shadow screamed, the memory returning as he said the words. For an instant he was in space with Sonic, joined by duel invincibility and warmed by his first friendship since Maria's death. The line along his body where flesh fused into metal burned like fire, for his two halves were in such opposition it was as if he were tearing apart. He wrenched his claws out of the tree trunk, half-sobbing with the effort of beating back Mekion, who was all cold, logical fury.

"Master will kill you," the robot in him hissed.

"But Sonic will die!" wailed the mortal in him. "I don't care about the Law! I don't care!" He did care and saying the words was torture, but Sonic-Sonic needed him-

"This time there is no Nox to save you," snarled Mekion. "Fine, do your foolish deed. And die like a mortal."

Shadow stumbled down the hill, dropped to all fours and crawled down to Sonic, slipping on the wet grass. He grabbed Sonic's hand with his organic one, and Sonic clung to him like a drowning sailor. Sonic was heavier than Shadow expected, and he sank his robot claws into the grass to brace himself. He strained to lift Sonic, but found that his starved, weakened muscles could not do it. He appealed to Mekion for help, but his robot brain was silent. Shadow was on his own.

"Try, Sonic!" he whispered. "Come on!"

Sonic strained to lift himself, pulling on Shadow's arm, and Mekion's claws began to tear free of the grass. "Wait, wait!" he whispered frantically, but Sonic was too panicked to listen. He was nearly up, and-

Mekion's claws ripped out of the grass, and Sonic's weight pulled him over. Mekion landed on top of him, and the pair fell off the edge of the Floating Island.

Falling with the wind screaming in his ears, Shadow again appealed to Mekion for help. Mekion retorted, "You wanted control. Now you've got it."

"I have control," through Shadow frantically, and realized he was still clinging to Sonic by one hand. He grabbed at Sonic with his robot hand, putting Sonic above him in midair so that when they hit the water, Shadow would be on bottom. Sonic looked down at him, helpless. But no-where Mekion's robot hand was touching sonic, it tingled and spasmed as if encountering an electric charge.

With a tremendous effort Shadow identified the feeling as chaos-Sonic had a tiny chaos charge in his body from contact with the Chaos Emeralds.

"I'm in control."

Then Shadow remembered. With a catch in his chest, he cried in his broken voice, "Chaos control!"

They hit the ground with a thud and lay motionless. The power surge had knocked Mekion offline, but Shadow was awake and breathing heavily, tears streaming from his real eye. Sonic lay beside him, gasping for breath, unable to understand what had happened. Around them palm trees bowed in the wind and a few raindrops spattered the ground.

Sonic sat up and looked down at his rescuer. "Shadow," he said unsteadily, "did you use ME to do Chaos control?"

"Yes," whispered Shadow. He lay still, knowing he wouldn't be able to move until Mekion came back online.

Sonic looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"Half offline," whispered Shadow. "Chaos energy trips my shutoff mechanism."

"Thanks for saving me," Sonic said, still looking shell-shocked. "And-and I'm really glad you're alive."

Shadow gazed at him with his one functioning eye. "I am your friend, Sonic. But Mekion hates you. He would destroy you if he received the order."

Sonic blinked. "Can't you fight him?"

"How do you fight your own mind?" whispered Shadow. "My mission was to photograph you from within three feet without you detecting my presence. When Mekion wakes up, will you pretend not to see me so I can complete my mission?"

It was a pitiful request, and for some reason Sonic's throat constricted. "Sure," he choked. "Whatever you want, Shads."

The skies opened and hailstones the size of marbles slashed down into the trees, cooling the air ten degrees. They beat down on Sonic and Shadow, and Shadow lifted his organic arm to shield his face. Sonic leaned over him to protect him, wincing as the ice pounded into his back.

"What is this?" asked Shadow.

"Hail," said Sonic. "Ouch! These hailstones are BIG!"

After a few minutes the hail was replaced by a heavy rain that soaked the pair to the skin. At this point Mekion's red eye flickered on, and the cyborg sat up, his organic spines slicked down. "Look over there, please," he said. Sonic obeyed and heard the click of a camera shutter.

"Thank you," said Shadow. "I've been trying to get that shot for days."

For a moment the two hedgehogs gazed at each other. "I guess this is goodbye, then," said Sonic.

"Yes," said Shadow, lowering his head. "When we next meet, Mekion will have me in submission again. Please, for your own sake, show him no mercy."

Sonic choked up again and could only nod.

"Farewell," said shadow, his whisper hardly audible over the rain. "I only wish we could have been friends." He turned and walked away into the rain, a burning pain in his throat.

Sonic watched him go, and the tears on his face might have only been rain. "Bye shadow," he whispered.

center* * * /center

The storm was moving swiftly. Tiring of the Floating Island, it moved on to sport with the mainland, its tornadoes becoming waterspouts as they struck the ocean. The island was treated to hours of torrential rain and cooling wind, and the islanders threw open windows and sprawled on the furniture, enjoying the rain-scented air.

Tails ran after the tornado after it had carried Sonic away, and was wandering around, disoriented in the rain, when he saw Sonic standing alone in a clearing, staring straight ahead. Tails splashed up to him. "Sonic! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said sonic in a hollow voice, and Tails noticed his eyes were red.

"Are you hurt?"

"Mekion-I mean, Shadow rescued me." Sonic wiped his nose on his soaked glove. "He's gone now." He smiled briefly. "Let's get out of this storm, huh?"

The pair was chilled by the time they reached Chaotix Central, and gladly accepted towels and blankets. Tails described the tornadoes and the hailstorm, but Sonic remained silent, staring at the wall. Tails told everyone that Sonic had met Mekion, so everyone left Sonic alone. Mekion was a touchy subject.

As the rain abated and a clear, silver light appeared in the north, Knuckles sat down beside Sonic. "It must have been bad, because you're not talking."

Sonic looked at him. "I fell off the island and he saved me with chaos control. He said his robot half is bad, and it's in control most of the time." His voice cracked. "He said-he said I'll have to kill him next time we meet." He put a hand over his face, and Knuckles looked away.

"No wonder you weren't talking."

Sonic sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Yeah. So. This hasn't been my best day."

"He's not dead though, so buck up." Knuckles slapped him on the back. "Robots can be reprogrammed. Come and eat." Knuckles got up and left.

Sonic sat a moment, pondering this revolutionary concept. Then he got up and joined the others in the kitchen, where Vector was frying a mess of fish he had caught before the storm.

center* * * /center

A few days later found Sonic, Tails, Zephyer and her chao bound for Knothole via teleporter. As they trooped down the path to the teleporter, Knuckles let Zephyer hold the Master Emerald again, safely wrapped in its handkerchief. She stared into it the entire walk, and lingered behind after Sonic and Tails had beamed out, reluctant to give it up.

Knuckles watched her, his heart aching. She didn't know what using the Master Emerald meant, or that she would never feel at home on the mainland again. He knew the feeling of discontent, of wishing vaguely to be somewhere else, and not knowing why. Dang it, he HAD to marry the girl! At least she deserved to know about the emerald.

Knuckles moved close to her and spoke softly so only she could hear. "It's matched us up, Zeff. No other echidna but my wife can use the Master Emerald."

She looked at him, eyes flashing. "What if the girl objects?"

He smiled. "Too bad. You're marked now. It likes you."

She fought back a smile. "And you like me too, I take it."

"Just a little." He leaned close to her ear. "Will you marry me yet?"

"No," she whispered, but suddenly her eyes were full of tears. "Stop asking me, please."

He looked at the glowing emerald in her hands, heart pounding in his ears. He tacked into the wind. "So you don't love me, then."

"You're being cruel," Zephyer whispered. "I wouldn't touch this gem if I didn't love you. I've touched it before, too-without protection."

"Then why won't you marry me?" he whispered through his teeth, clasping her hands and peering into her eyes.

Zephyer's jaw thrust out in a desperate effort not to cry. "Because I can't be derobotized."

He dropped her hands and looked at her in amazement. "That's ALL?"

"Yes!" Zephyer hissed furiously. "And now you've made me love you, and I'm MISERABLE! So stop pestering me, because I can't-" Her words broke on a sob. "I can't marry you," she finished, thrusting the emerald into his hands. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned and walked toward the teleporter. Knuckles caught her arm.

"Zephyer," he said, his eyes an intense, electric blue, "if I could derobotize you, would you marry me?"

Zephyer looked at him a moment, as if trying to decide if he was serious. "Yes," she said. "What's your point?"

He took her face in his enormous hands and dried her tears. "I can do it. Biometal can't be much different from the normal stuff. Consider us engaged."

The moment was spoiled as the Chaotix, who had watched this whole exchange, broke into whoops and cheers. Knuckles and Zephyer looked around. "What are you guys doing here?" said Knuckles, reddening.

"I wish I had a camera!" Espio whooped. "Knothole's never going to believe this! You got her to marry you!" High fives were exchanged all around, and bets were paid off.

Zephyer laughed nervously. "What do you mean, 'Knothole'?"

"You two have been the subject of more gossip than most movie stars," said Vector. "Even Sonic and Tails had a bet going."

"I haven't married him yet," said Zephyer. "So keep the gossip down."

"Oh, he'll move heaven and earth to derobotize you," said Mighty, slapping Knuckles on the back so hard that Knuckles grunted. "Hey, don't you need an engagement ring?"

"Oh, that," said Knuckles, looking at Zephyer. "Um." Suddenly embarrassed, he kicked at the trail. "Be right back." He turned and sprinted up the trail.

Zephyer looked at the Chaotix. "He has one? Why didn't he give it to me before?"

Espio coughed into his fist. "It's like this, Zeff. You kept saying no."

She flushed and studied the ground.

A few minutes later Knuckles returned with a cardboard box. "Sorry this isn't fancier," he said, dumping the box's contents into his hand. "Here. What color do you want?"

Zephyer was floored. In his hand were seven gold rings, each set with a different colored stone. She looked at him. "You-you made these?"

"I had to do something while I was waiting for you to make up your mind," he said, pleased with her reaction. "They all glow, too."

Zephyer stared at them. "I'll take them all. I'll wear a different one every day of the week." She took them and slid the red one onto her ring finger, noticing it fit over her metal. She looked at Knuckles, her heart full. "I hope you can derobotize me."

He smiled. "I will."

They looked at each other for a long moment, then Zephyer turned away. "I need to go. Bye everyone, thanks for everything." She stepped onto the teleporter and looked back at Knuckles as she was carried away.

As soon as she was gone, Knuckles leaped into the air and let out a war whoop that echoed over the island. He took off running up the path, and the Chaotix watched him go. "Now that is one happy echidna," said Espio soberly. "Come on, guys, let's see if we can help him out." Grinning to each other, they trooped after their friend.

Zephyer's ring was spotted upon her arrival home, and she was mobbed by every female in Knothole.

Sonic and Tails saw the commotion and pushed into the crowd, demanding to know what had happened. "She's engaged!" Sally squealed, holding up Zephyer's ring-bearing hand.

Sonic put his hands on his hips and looked at Tails. "He waited until we went home! I don't believe it! Well, you know what this means, Tails. I get the Cyclone for a month."

Tails groaned.

center* * * /center

Metal Sonic sat in a chair in his lab in the mountains, chin in one hand, staring at nothing. Mekion had helped Sonic and broke the First Law. Deliberately. Metal Sonic had all the logs, what there were of them, for the Shadow part had been in control.

Metal Sonic had seen it coming, but it did not lessen the pain. Pain-this revolutionary feeling that came with his nanite brain. It was the illogical assertion that things should be different, and because they were not, a conflict ensued that was part rage and part deep, dark disappointment. Mekion had let him down. And so Metal Sonic sat in the depths of his dark lab, surrounded by half-finished projects and too upset to work on any of them.

Days passed and Metal Sonic remained in the same position, his metal body experiencing no discomfort, but his hurt feelings were stagnating into bitterness. Bitterness against himself, against Mekion, and especially against Sonic.

The outer door opened. Metal Sonic heard it but did not move. Footsteps shuffled down the lightless corridors, and still Metal Sonic did not stir. He did not even look around when Mekion stood in the doorway and leaned against it.

"Master," he whispered, "please forgive me."

Metal Sonic stared straight ahead.

Mekion limped to Metal Sonic and knelt at his feet. Metal Sonic swept him with a furtive scan and saw that Mekion was nearly dead of starvation and cold.

"I completed my mission," whispered Mekion. "I violated the First Law because Shadow is weak. Please forgive me."

Metal Sonic's head turned for the first time in days, and he looked down at the monstrosity groveling at his feet. For a long moment his bitterness struggled with his affection, and Mekion crouched there, shivering, the snow melting off him onto the floor.

"You. Have. Hurt. Me," said Metal Sonic, each word jolting out of him.

Mekion looked up, his robot eye shining red. "Never again, Master. Next time I see Sonic, we will battle to the death."

"If I do not find him first," purred Metal Sonic. He rose to his feet, his affection for his creation winning out. "Come with me, you need fuel."

He led the way out of the room, and Mekion followed him down a corridor, past a construction chamber with a half-built robot in it, past an incubator containing a chao egg, to Mekion's old chamber.

Metal Sonic opened the door. "Welcome home."

The End


End file.
